West Family Traditions
by Flamebird1001
Summary: The Wests are a very close family, and as Artemis becomes closer to Wally, she becomes closer to the Wests too. And of course, that means she's going to have to learn their traditions!
1. Tradition Number 1

Hey, so I was actually wanting to post this story up ages ago, but I only really got around to doing it now. It's exactly what the title says, just random one-shots of West Family Traditions. Please read and review!

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**Rule Number 1: Every family member must participate in the 'West Dance' at every anniversary.**

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"Wally, will you hurry up? We're going to be late!" Artemis hissed at him, throwing her water bottle at him as she tied up her boots.

"Babe, relax, it's only my parents anniversary. They know I'm always late!" he said, catching the water bottle easily.

He sped over to her and picked her up from behind, lifting her off the ground. Artemis yelped in surprise, struggling to get out of his hold.

"Well, I like being on time! You're not even dressed!" she yelled, seeing the yellow of his pyjamas.

"Artemis, please relax. My parents have met you a dozen times and they adore you. They don't care if we're late."

Artemis rolled her eyes, finally freeing herself and landing on her feet, "It's called being punctual, Wally. For once, in the five years I've known you, I would just love to be on time for something."

He laughed, giving her a quick peck on the lips. "For you, my love, anything," he said, bowing deeply.

Artemis grinned in victory as he super-sped out of the room. She looked in the mirror and straightened her scarf. She' known Wally's parents for years now, but she couldn't help but want to still keep a good impression on them. Their son is dating the child of two deadly assassins, so Artemis thinks that keeping good impressions might be a good thing.

"Let's go babe!" Wally yelled out to her, coming out of his room. He had changed into jeans and the jumper his mum had made for him last Christmas. Wally sped towards her, tripped over something, and then came crashing towards her, knocking Artemis onto her back.

"Hey look, it's our favourite position," Wally said in a quiet, slightly amused tone.

Artemis groaned and tried to push him off of her, "Why is it that you always manage to find something to trip over?"

"Maybe I just like being on top of you," he answered cheekily.

Artemis rolled her eyes again, "How I ever managed to fall in love with an idiot like you is beyond me."

"Hey, I am the Wall-Man. Now come on, let's go," he said, getting to his feet and then picking up Artemis.

Before Artemis had a chance to yell at him and tell him to take the car, Wally had already sped off down the street. Artemis snuggled closer into his chest, locking her arms around his neck. She would never admit it to him, but she loved the feeling of being in his arms while he was running. She loved feeling the cool air whip across her body, only to be warmed again by the body of her speedster.

She closed her eyes and then opened them again as Wally stopped and dropped her gently to her feet.

"We're on time, too," Wally aid proudly.

Artemis swatted his arm and then rang the doorbell. The door flung open and Mary West rushed outside, pulling both Wally and Artemis in a suffocating hug.

"Happy 25th Anniversary, Mum," Wally said.

"Come in, come in! It's freezing outside! I've just finished making the third pudding. We're only waiting for Barry and Iris," Mary gushed.

Mary finally let them go and Artemis walked inside, taking note of the West household. She loved it here, she really did. The entire house had a kind of homey feel to it, and it was decorated with pictures of Wally growing up. One day, she'd love to go through them with Wally and his family.

Artemis walked into the dining room, where Jay and Joan Garrick were already seated. She turned around to see Wally, who was already heading towards the kitchen.

"Don't even think about it," Mary said sharply.

Wally looked pleadingly at his father, who shook his head. Defeated, Wally walked back to Artemis and slung his arms around her shoulders.

"25 years, eh? Well done, Rudy," Jay said cheekily.

Joan hit him on the shoulder and made a face at Mary.

There was a whooshing sound, and suddenly, Barry and Iris were standing in front of them.

"Sorry we're late. Iris was working late," Barry said.

"And then, Barry of course, just rushes in there and takes me out before I can even save my story," Iris said irritably, shooting a mock-angry look at Barry.

"Mum, Barry' here! Can we eat?" Wally called.

The whole family laughed at this, and Artemis rolled her eyes.

"Kid, you haven't changed a bit, have you? How do you two even keep up with the food bill?" Barry asked.

"Nightwing," Wally and Artemis answered promptly. Well, Wally's answer was a bit muffled, seeing as his face was stuffed with food.

Barry chuckled at that and raised his wine glass, "To Mary and Rudy," he said, and the others followed suit.

Artemis smiled slightly as she raised her glass. She could live with having a family like this.

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"No."

"Babe, its tradition!" Wally whined.

Artemis glared at him, crossing her legs in the West's super comfy couch.

"Wally, I've been taught to handle a bow and arrow, and I've been training since I was four to be able to kill people. I do not dance."

"It's not just any dance. It's the West dance," Wally pleaded.

Artemis glared at him even more, narrowing her eyes.

"You're going to have to do it," Barry said, coming to Wally's side, "when I went to my first West anniversary with Iris, I was expected to dance with her too. It's just a West tradition."

"A West tradition?" Artemis asked.

"Yep. West Family Traditions. Things that every West family member must participate in. Always," Wally said seriously.

"You're joking," Artemis deadpanned.

"I am not! West Traditions are sacred rights that every family member must participate in! As if your family didn't have any traditions?"

"Most of my family traditions were illegal," Artemis said.

"Yeah, well, this isn't. So come on!"

"Artemis, just do it. The Wests are very stubborn when it comes to their traditions. We're not even blood related and we have to do it!" Joan told her.

Artemis sighed, "Fine. But just this once."

Wally smiled brightly and grabbed her arm, dragging her to the middle of the living room with the others.

"Artemis has finally joined! The West dance is ready to commence!" Wally told his mother.

Rudy grinned and turned on the radio. A jazzy, upbeat, probably very old song came on. Rudy swept Mary into the living room, and the pair began to dance and twirl. Artemis can honestly say she has never seen two people be happier. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Joan and Jay dancing, as well as Barry and Iris.

"I don't know what to do," Artemis whispered to Wally.

He smiled gently, pulling her closer to him.

"Just relax and follow my lead, babe."

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So that was rule number 1! Please leave a review or any kind of feedback! Hope you liked it!


	2. Tradition Number 2

Thank you so much to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter! I would love it if you guys had any suggestions of what other West Traditions there could be. I have a rough outline of each chapter, but if there were any really good suggestions I would try my best to include them! Anyway, read on!

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**Number 2: On the eve of one's birthday, it is compulsory for the birthday person to stay up until midnight and have a celebratory piece of cake.**

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Artemis and Wally may have retired from the hero gig, but that didn't mean they wouldn't suit up and help if they were needed. Especially when Barry and a couple of other Leaguers were stuck inside an alternate dimension; then they were more than willing to take watch over Central City.

Artemis moved stealthily across the rooftops, keeping low and staying in the shadows. It was a simple scouting mission; they were just looking around and making sure Central was safe. Artemis was keeping as quiet as possible, trying to keep a low profile.

Which would have been a lot easier if the ever talkative Kid Flash wasn't present.

Seriously, what was his deal? This was the first time Artemis was at Central, and truthfully, she had never seen Wally in action in his home town. Sure, she expected him to be comfortable and be more at home, but this was just ridiculous.

Wally zoomed around the town, calling out to random people and having a little chat with them. So far, he had eaten a plate of cookies from an old lady after he had painted her fence, played darts with a group of kids, ate a whole serving of French fries while talking to the owner of a café, and blown Artemis's cover at least 3 times.

"Yo Arty, have you tried this black forest cake? Mrs Bunn makes the best in town!" Kid Flash called up to her from the bakery he was standing at.

Artemis cursed as the people around him looked up to stare at her. She zip-lined down from the roof and came to a stop in front of Wally. He shoved the cake into her face.

"Seriously, it's the best," he said.

The old woman, presumably Mrs Bunn, glowed with pride. Artemis snatched the cake out of Wally's hand and stuffed the rest into his mouth.

"Do you have to keep talking to everyone?" Artemis growled.

"Aw, c'mon babe. I haven't seen these guys in ages! Talking isn't going to hurt anyone. Oh, hey Bill! How's the home renovation going?" Wally called out to a man passing by.

The guy gave him the thumbs up sign and yelled back, "Great! Nice to see you again, Kid Flash!"

Artemis resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Hey, Kid Flash, is that your girlfriend?" a small child asked.

Wally smiled widely, while Artemis gave her bet death glare to the crowd.

"C'mon Kid Idiot. We need to move, and this time, could you try to keep a low profile?" Artemis asked.

Wally was about to reply when his pager beeped, indicating that some kind of crime was going on.

"Let's go, Artemis," he said, and quickly scooped Artemis in his arms before speeding off to the City Bank.

"What's happening?" Wally asked one of the police officers who was stationed in the front, dropping Artemis to her feet.

"It's the Trickster and Captain Cold. They're robbing the bank, you need to stop them!" the police officer cried out.

"Oh, no. We just ran all the way over here to watch the robbery take place. It's not like we're spandex wearing heroes who are going to stop it or anything," Artemis yelled back sarcastically.

The police looked strangely at her, and Wally shrugged his shoulders.

"It's that time of the month," he said as a way of explanation, and then he sped inside before Artemis could throw anything at him.

Artemis followed him inside, keeping her bow ready.

She saw Kid Flash running circles around Captain Cold, calling out insults at him, but the Trickster was nowhere to be found. Artemis shot an arrow at Captain Cold, knowing Wally would run out of the way. The arrow hit the Captain's freeze ray gun, and then Wally quickly ran in and sucker punched him.

"We need to find the Trickster," Artemis called out.

Wally zoomed away, and then quickly returned.

"He's not in the bank vault."

"Maybe he left?"

"The Trickster? No way, babe. He's around here somewhere," Wally told her.

Right on cue, they heard an odd wheezing noise. Artemis ran to the source, doing a neat flip over an upturned table and landing right in front of the Trickster. She had her bow ready, an arrow aiming right for his heart.

"Where's the stolen bank money?" she growled.

The Trickster kept doing his wheezy cough/laugh thing, so Artemis pressed the tip of her arrow to his chest.

"I asked a question!" she yelled more forcefully.

Artemis saw the Trickster reach for his weird looking gun, and she quickly dodged its ray. She brought her bow across his face and avoided the punch he aimed for her gut. She blocked his punches and tried to trip him, but he avoided that and managed to throw her to the ground. Artemis jumped back to her feet, ready to fight again, but Wally quickly sped between them.

"Whoa, guys, we really don't need to do this!" he said.

"Kid Flash, get out of the way!" Artemis ordered.

"Babe, let me handle this," Wally told her, and then returned his attention to the Trickster, "Hey, how's it going? I haven't seen you in a while."

"You're never here with the Flash anymore! But that's okay, because he'll be easier to kill!" the Trickster laughed manically.

"Are you off your meds again?" Wally asked him.

Artemis rolled her eyes, how thick could Wally get? You didn't talk to a villain like that! You just knock them out and haul them to jail, not talk to them like they're a naughty kid.

To her surprise, the Trickster nodded sadly.

"You know that the medicine is good for you! Tell you what, here's what you do. Go turn yourself in, okay? And then I promise I'll visit you in the hospital," Wally promised.

The Trickster seemed to perk up at that idea, and he nodded happily, and then walked away.

"See, I told you I could handle it!" Wally told her.

Artemis didn't respond, she was still trying to get her head around what had just happened.

"Hey! Captain Cold is ready to be put in the freezer!" Wally called out to the police officers, and Artemis couldn't help but grimace at the lame pun.

"Just take me home, Kid Flash."

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It was nearly midnight by the time Wally and Artemis finally got home to their apartment in Palo Alto. Artemis yawned tiredly, and gave Wally a sleepy kiss on the cheek.

"I still can't get over how you defeated those villains," she told him.

"That cool, huh?" Wally asked smugly.

Artemis shook her head, laughing, "More like that _lame_. Those had to be the saddest excuses for a villain I have ever seen. And what the hell is up with you and talking to everyone you meet? For a hero, you sure are very chatty."

"Hey, it might have been different in Gotham, where everyone is a crazy psychopath, including the Bat, but in Central, everyone's cool. And the villains, well, poor Trickster. He tries," Wally said.

"Right. I think Central is way more messed up than Gotham could ever be. Anyway, goodnight Wally. I've got a lit. exam tomorrow and I do _not_ want to be late," she said.

"Wait, its midnight!" Wally called out, grabbing Artemis by the hand and spinning her so she faced him.

"Yeah?"

"It's your birthday!" Wally told her excitedly.

"Babe, you remembered! That's so sweet. Where are my presents?" Artemis asked him.

"Patience, grasshopper. You'll get your present tomorrow. But there is something else we need to do. A sort of tradition."

"What is it?" Artemis said warily.

Wally steered her into the kitchen and pulled out a chair for her. He started rummaging in the fridge.

"Of course, with you, it's going to have to be about food, isn't it?" Artemis asked jokingly.

"Very funny. Here it is," Wally exclaimed proudly, pulling out a huge cake box.

He opened it and revealed the massive cake sitting inside. There was one candle on the top, and the writing scribbled in the middle read, 'Happy Birthday, Spitfire."

"Black Forest Cake. Mrs Bunn's specialty and your favourite," he told her proudly.

Artemis beamed at him, and he cut the cake for her. He gave her a normal sized piece, and then cut an enormous slice for himself.

"Thank you Wally," Artemis said softly.

"Anything for you, babe," he replied.

Artemis finished her slice of cake, and then put both dishes in the sink.

"We should probably go to bed now," Wally said.

Artemis tilted her head thoughtfully, and a smile played upon her lips.

"You know, I think I want more cake," she said in a soft, low voice.

Wally made towards the cake box, but Artemis grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to her.

"Not that kind," she said, and then brought his lips over hers.

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Thanks for reading! Feedback would be much appreciated!


	3. Tradition Number 3

Hey! Thank you again for the feedback on the last chapter, it means a lot to me! I forgot to mention that the idea of that was based on the Justice League Animated series episode called Flash and Substance.  
I'm hoping to get about 3 or 4 chapters done today, because I really want to finish this before the holidays are over. This chapter was sort of inspired by one review who suggested going caroling. I remembered that none of my chapters actually had any traditions for Holidays, so I thought I would just start with this one.  
Thank you for sticking through with this, and remember, please leave some feedback!

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**Rule Number 3: Attendance at the West Family Holiday Celebrations is mandatory.**

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"I've got a splitting headache, my throat isn't working properly, there's snot running down my face and I think I'm running a fever. I am not going to your parents' house for the Easter party," Artemis told Wally, her sweet, lovable, idiot of a boyfriend sternly.

She coughed roughly, and then reached for a tissue. Artemis was snuggled comfortably in the couch, a blanket draped over her and Wally sitting by her side, feeding her chicken soup. He rubbed her back soothingly, and ran his fingers through her hair.

"It's my parents! They'll kill me if I don't go," Wally whined.

"Then go by yourself."

"It's you they want to see."

"Tell them I'm on my deathbed."

"I can't lie to my parents!"

Artemis groaned and tried to snuggle deeper into the couch. She was feeling so sore, so horribly sick. All she wanted was to lie here and watch some stupid movie on the T.V as Wally fed her soup.

But no, Wally had to be a whiney kid and want to go to his parents' house for stupid Easter. One thing Artemis couldn't understand about the West family was that they were so… family-like. It was weird to be part of a family that was so close together, that practically saw each other every day. Especially since she came from a family like hers. It would be considered a good family dinner if all of them were present and no-one tried to kill each other.

Still, she had to admit, she kind of liked being in this big family. For so long, it had just been her and her mother; it was nice to be part of a bigger family, to be close to so many people. And the Wests were more than willing to accept Artemis and her family. They already acted like Artemis was part of the family, and even called Paula, Jade and Lian over to their house too.

But she was so sick right now, coughing up litres of phlegm and all that other shit, she really didn't want to see anyone.

"Artemis, is there any way I can convince you to go for Easter?" Wally asked hopefully.

Artemis glared back at him, "No."

"Fine." Wally got up and Artemis missed the heat of his body already.

"I'll just have to bring the party to you."

Before Artemis had the chance to ask what the hell he meant by that, Wally had already sped off. She rolled her eyes and sighed, see, this was the problem with having a boyfriend who could break the sound barrier in his sneakers. They never really took the time to explain things.

Artemis nearly laughed when she remembered Iris's stories about Barry when they were dating. Apparently, being subtle is not a speedster's specialty. Iris had already figured out who Barry really was in their second month of dating.

Artemis saw Nelson run up to her, and she petted his head weakly as he scrounged the floor for food. Between Wally and the dog, their food bill was excessively high. Good thing they had friends like Dick, who was actually rich enough to afford it.

The door creaked open, and instead of the familiar red-head Artemis was used to, she could see a red/brown one bobbing about. Reacting instantly, Artemis grabbed the thing closest to her (a fork) and threw it with as much force as she could muster. The fork flew through the air, landing a millimetre away from the head.

The thing reacted, speeding away from the fork and coming to her side.

"Whoa, Artemis, chill! Please don't kill me!" a boy, probably around Tim's age, begged her. He had brown hair and kind green eyes. He also looked kind of familiar.

"I see you've met my grandson," Barry called out to her, running through her door carrying bags of food.

"Um, did I miss something?" Artemis called back weakly.

Barry dumped the food on their already cramped dining table, and came around to put an arm around the boy.

"This is Bart. My grandson from the future. Didn't Wally tell you about it?"

Artemis racked her brain, "Um, he might have mentioned it…"

"You look terrible," the boy, Bart said. He caught Artemis's glare and quickly backpedalled, "I mean, not terrible as in looks wise, god no, you're beautiful and all that. I just mean that since you're sick and all you don't look all that crash. But you still look good. Just not fully crash. Like-" Bart's rant was interrupted as Wally sped in and placed a hand over his mouth.

"So Arty, this is Bart, the kid with the world's biggest mouth."

Artemis did a weird, cough/laugh thing, "He's even worse than you," she rasped.

Both speedsters looked at her blankly, as if it was just dawning on them that she had insulted them. Artemis rolled her eyes, _speedsters_. They may be fast and whatever, but they could also be so slow at the same time.

The front door opened again, and this time Iris and Wally's parents walked through the door.

"Artemis!" Mary gushed as soon as she saw the sick girl, "Is Wally taking care of you? Please tell me he had the decency to offer chicken soup."

"As a matter of fact, I did!" Wally said proudly.

"So there is hope for you yet, eh?" Rudolph called back.

Wally stuck his tongue out at him.

Before Artemis could even register it, the entire West/Allen family begun to cooking in her house. Barry, Wally and Rudolph were setting the table, while Iris was rifling through the food bags that Barry brought. Bart was sitting next to her, trying to steal packets of chips and chocolate. Meanwhile, Mary was sitting next to Artemis, arranging the pillows so she was comfortable and cleaning up the mess around here.

"Mary, what's happening?" Artemis asked.

"Oh, nothing much. When Wally said you couldn't go to the Easter party because you were sick, we decided to bring the party to you. After all, it's just tradition that the whole family is there."

"I don't think I'm technically family."

Mary laughed at this, pushing Artemis's blonde hair away from her face in a motherly manner that Paula had always done for Artemis, "If you're not family by now, I don't know what you are! I'll go make you some hot chocolate, okay? I always loved that when I was sick."

Artemis nodded, smiling slightly. Okay, maybe she did love being part of the West family.


	4. Tradition Number 4

Okay, second chapter up in my mega-upload mission!

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**Rule Number 4: No matter how angry you are, or how late it is at night, the two members of the family must make up before they go to sleep.**

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Artemis hung up the phone and settled it gently on the side table. She could feel Wally's eyes on her back, and she took a deep breath as she turned around to look at him. He was lying down on his die of the bed, shirtless, and with a worried expression on his face.

"That was Dick," Artemis said.

"Did he ask for your hand in marriage? Coz I'll fight him if I have to. I mean, I might not win, but I sure as hell will fight," Wally said easily, joking around.

Artemis couldn't help but crack a smile at the goofball antics of her boyfriend, "No Wally. He asked me to do something for him."

Wally's eyebrows shot up, but he remained silent.

"He asked me to go undercover in Manta's ship for him."

Wally sat up straight now, eyes wide, "And you said no, right?" he asked. There was something about his voice, a steely undertone that had lost all of its joking edge.

"Wally…," Artemis took a deep breath, "I said yes."

Wally stared at her for a minute, and then went to pick up the phone.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling Dick to tell him that you're not going."

"Wally wait," Artemis pleaded, holding his arm, "You don't even know the plan yet."

He stared at her with the same steely expression, and Artemis just started babbling, "Look, Kaldur is going to pretend to kill me, and then Dick will be giving me a glamour charm. I'll become Tigress, go aboard Manta's ship and help Kaldur out, okay? No big deal, just a simple mission."

"Yeah, and you're still not going."

"You don't get to make that decision," Artemis said to him, matching his steely voice.

Wally completely lost it then. He started shouting and throwing things around the room, "Are you kidding me? This plan… it's crazy! You're putting yourself at risk, in the direct line of fire! Dick is an asshole for asking you to do this!"

"Don't blame him. The decision was mine," Artemis said quietly.

"We're trying to get out of the hero gig! Here we are, trying to live normal, safe lives, and you just go right back in there? Do you have any idea of what could happen? You could die!"

"Wally, I'm doing this to help people. Help the world. You used to do the same thing not so long ago."

"That was different! I was needed!"

"Well, Dick needs me now."

"Artemis please," Wally begged, a look of pure distress written all over his face, "We have a good thing going here. We're safe, living a normal life. Just stay. Stay with me."

He had dropped to his knees at this moment, holding onto to the bed for support. Artemis could see his eyes watering up, and she felt her own do the same.

"I won't be gone for long. Just a simple mission, and then I'll be back before you know it," she said softly, trying to smile.

Wally didn't reply, so Artemis went down on her knees with him, putting a soft hand to his cheek.

Suddenly, Wally stood up, brushing her away and turned to the bed. He pushed back the covers roughly and got in. "Fine," he said angrily, "Go ahead. Risk your life. Ruin everything we've worked for in the past five years."

"Wally…"

He didn't reply, just turned in the bed so he couldn't see her anymore. Artemis felt a spark of rage go through her. She was trying to help a lot of innocent people, why couldn't he understand how important this was to her? She had been out of action for so long; all she wanted was just a little rush of the hero thing. Just one more time.

She flicked the lights back on and scrambled onto the bed, straddling Wally between her legs. She could see him doing his best to ignore her, but Artemis wasn't about to let that happen.

"Wallace Rudolph West, look at me right now," she demanded.

Wally glared at her through his lashes, but Artemis pressed on.

"Do you remember the advice our father gave to Jade and Roy on their wedding night? Because I do. He said that they should never go to bed angry. So we're not going to sleep until we sort this shit out, understood?"

She felt Wally sigh, and he finally gave her his full attention.

"The only way you could possibly make this better is if you promise that you're not going on the mission."

"Wally, I'm going whether you want me to or not, okay? You're going to have to find a way to deal with that."

Suddenly, Artemis felt the bed shift beneath her, and Wally pressed her closer so he could give her a rough, passionate kiss on her lips. She responded with enthusiasm, and they only pulled away when they needed air.

"We can't do that anymore when you're undercover," he said hoarsely. He then kissed the tip of her nose, "or this," he moved down under her jaw, "or this," and then he started kissing her neck, "or this."

Artemis rolled away, entangling herself in the sheets and Wally's legs.

"Only for a couple of weeks. I'll be back, Wally. I promise."

"Famous last words," he muttered, and then moved his lips to claim hers.

Artemis kissed him back. She didn't know what was going to happen in the morning, but hey, at least they weren't arguing now.


	5. Tradition Number 5

Mega upload mission status: Fail.  
Yeah, sorry about that. I tried, but then I kinda got distracted and did other things. But hey, at least I still got a chapter up! At the start of the fanfic I said that these were completely random one-shots, but now, the sort of have a story line going through them, ish. It's a semi-story, if you get what I mean. These one-shots are all going to be kind of related to one another.  
Thank you again for all the feedback!

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**Number 5: After the death of a family member, you must go to the family's house and pig out on their ice-cream and reminisce.**

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Sometimes, the world was a bitch.

Seriously, the world must be having some serious hate vibes for Artemis or something, because it just wasn't fair. It was plain cruel, plain _evil_. She had just been reunited with Wally, and wham! The world takes him away from her again.

It's just not fair.

There's an odd buzzing in her ear, and she can hear M'gnn or Barbra talking to her, trying to get her to move. But Artemis won't, even though she can feel the tears freezing on her face, even though she can feel the cold seeping through her body. She doesn't ever think she can feel warm again, not without her speedster to warm her.

They're shaking her now, trying to get her to move, but she can't. Why don't they understand that this is where she wants to be? Why can't they just leave her alone so she can curl up in the ice and wait for Wally to return?

Or maybe she could go to Wally. She wouldn't really mind, as long as they were together.

Artemis closed her eyes and let herself fall forward into the cold, unforgiving ice. The team, the League, they'll never know how much she hates herself right now. It was her fault that she rushed into a mission again, leaving her normal life, leaving Wally. Because of that, her time with Wally was cut short.

It was almost ironic how she, the one who faked her death and risked her life for the past couple of months was still alive, but Wally, bright, sweet, lovable Wally, who had just put on the Kid Flash suit, wound up dead.

Yup, the world truly hated her.

She felt the ground shift beneath her, and suddenly she was being lifted up into the air. She scrabbled around, kicking and crying, but Nightwing had an iron grip on her, lifting her up and carrying her back to the Bio-Ship. She only stopped struggling when she saw the tears streaming down his face, reminding her that she wasn't the only one who had lost Wally.

* * *

The cave was eerily quiet, just the occasional sniffling or blowing of nose. Artemis just couldn't stop crying. She wasn't sobbing or anything dramatic, just the steady flow of tears running down her cheeks. Many people had tried to talk to her, trying to get her to come back to the world, but she just couldn't be bothered. She wanted to be alone, just to wallow in her sadness and the realization that when she came home the bed would be cold and empty, and the fridge would still be full.

"Artemis, we're going to go tell Wally's parents," Barry said quietly, his voice a hoarse whisper, indicating that he would have been crying to.

Artemis nodded, feeling a rush of sympathy wash over her. The hardest thing in the world would be to tell Wally's parents, to see the sadness wash over their cheerful faces, to be the ones to tell them that their son would not be coming home to raid their fridge. She couldn't bear the thought of Mary's smile dropping from her face, or Rudolph's shoulders sagging with sadness.

"Come with us," Barry said, asking really.

Artemis looked at him with watery eyes, "I think- I think it would be better if it was just family," she said, her voice cracking.

"What are you but family? C'mon, please," he said, and Artemis couldn't say no to him.

Slowly, Barry, Bart and Artemis left the WatchTower, and zeta-tubed to the West household. Barry had called Iris to meet them there, and when Artemis could feel the tension in the West household. The Wests weren't stupid, they knew something was up. She saw Mary's face turn into a look of confusion and distress when she saw that Wally wasn't with them.

Iris sat up, looking between the three of them, "What happened? Where's Wally?"

Bart hung his head and refused to meet anyone's eyes, so Barry was the only one to speak, "He's- he's gone."

There was a shattering noise as Mary dropped the plates she was holding, and almost immediately Rudolph came to hug her, whispering in her ear as tears dripped from both their faces. Iris collapsed into the armchair, where both her husband and grandson came to comfort her.

Artemis just stood still, staring at the broken glass, thinking that yes, this was exactly how she felt. Like a part of her had been shattered, and now there was no Wally to patch her up.

She felt a pair of arms come around her, enveloping her in a hug, and Artemis realised that Mary and Rudolph had moved over to hug her. Iris, Barry, and an uncharacteristically quiet Bart joined in the hug, and Artemis couldn't help but feel a little better. That maybe she was shattered, maybe she was broken, but here were people, _family_, who knew exactly how she felt, and they were willing to let her lean on them.

* * *

It was super late at night, and really, Artemis should be tucked away inside her bed, or she should be at her mother's house, but she was happy enough just to stay here. She was tucked into Mary's couch, with a bowl of ice-cream in her hand and Bart curled up next to her. They were peering through an ancient family album; with Mary and Rudolph were describing the pictures through their tears.

"In this one, Wally had just had his first day in school. Oh, he was so excited," Mary explained, pointing to a small, 5 year old Wally.

Artemis choked on a laugh. He looked adorable, with his shock of red hair, collared shirt and pants practically pulled up to his armpits. He looked so happy, so full of life. Really, his smile hadn't changed at all.

"And in this one, it was his 9th birthday party, and he ate the whole cake before any of the guest arrived," Rudolph pointed out to the photo of his son, who had a very pleased expression on his face and chocolate smeared all across his face.

"Oh, I remember this one! Wally had just gotten his speed then, and he had just put on his Kid Flash uniform for the first time," Iris said.

"I remember that. It took him hours before he took it off again," Mary said, laughing.

Artemis laughed along with the rest of them, eagerly looking at each picture and listening to every story around it. Finally, she was piecing together that part of Wally that she missed out on seeing, finally, she got to really know him. She just wished he was there with her, that it was him describing each picture to her, laughing at every stupid thing he did.

God, she wished he was here.

"These are the medals he won, right? I was there when they presented it to him, he was so proud," Barry said, pointing at the certificate and medallions decorating the room, complimenting Kid Flash for his achievement in bringing justice to the world.

It went on for hours, the whole family reminiscing about Wally. Remembering him, cherishing him. It helped, really. It made Artemis forget about the void of emptiness inside her. Finally, she nudged Bart away gently so she could get up.

"Where are you going?" he asked drowsily.

"Home. Thank you so much for letting me stay and all, but I should really be heading home. My mum will be worried, and I really just want someplace to crash," she said, her throat dry from the endless crying and sobbing.

"You're more than welcome to stay here," Rudolph told her, but Artemis rejected the offer kindly.

"Take this before you go," Mary said, pushing a CD into Artemis's hands, "when you died, or rather, fake died, we encouraged Wally to make a video about what he would say to you if he could. We never watched it, but you might want to."

Artemis swallowed and nodded, heading back to her empty home.

* * *

Here she was, lying on the twisted sheets of the bed; wearing Wally's over-sized shirts with a box of tissues by her side. Nelson was curled up in the corner, and Artemis's eyes were glued to the television, tears falling down her face as she watched the recording of Wally sitting on their couch, talking to the camera.

_"Hey, babe. Yeah, so my mum and Aunt Iris convinced me to do this, and because you're not really dead and all I thought it might be a little weird. But you know my mum, she always gets her way, so, here I am! Hopefully you'll never watch this, coz I have a feeling you would kick my ass about the amount of cheese in this video, but Artemis, it's true. I miss you. I miss having you around here; I miss your smell, your body, your lips, your goddamn beautiful hair. I miss your snide remarks and sarcasm, I miss your voice. I miss coming home to a warm bed; I miss your home-cooked meals. God, Artemis, I just miss you. I know that you're coming back soon, and I am seriously counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until you do. Because every time, every day you're not with me, I feel like a die a little inside. I want you back, I need you back, and when you come home, I swear I'm never letting you go again. I'll go to the ends of the earth, to hell with that, I'd go through heaven and hell to get you back. Because I need you Artemis, I need you as much as hydrogen needs oxygen to make water, as much as plants need the sun for photosynthesis to occur. I need you back, Mis. I love you, Artemis Crock."_

* * *

I'm sorry, I absolutely suck at writing angst. I tried, though. And it practically killed me to write this, because I love Wally and I hate how he dies, and I desperately want a season 3 so we can see him again.  
But anyway, review please!


	6. Tradition Number 6

Yes, this is a fix-it chapter, because I can never be okay with the idea of Wally dying. I do mention the Speed Force, and I don't really know a lot about it so that part is mostly made up. I also mention John Constantine, and once again, I don't really know a lot about him either. The story is also inspired by another Justice League Animated show, so you'll probably be able to tell what parts are.

This chapter was rushed, so there might be a lot more mistakes than usual and I'm really sorry for that!

Please send any kind of feedback!

* * *

**Rule Number 6: After the resurrection of a family member, it is absolutely normal for the girlfriend to have a mental breakdown and yell at them.**

* * *

One year after Wally's death; Artemis still didn't know if she was really happy. She still had trouble sleeping at night, and she would still occasionally randomly break into tears. She still felt empty inside, and still had not gotten a new boyfriend, despite Barbra and M'gnn's many attempts.

But she was coping, and that was the good thing.

The only thing that really got Artemis going, or got her the closest to being 'happy', was when she was on missions as Tigress. The rush, the feeling of adrenaline pumping through her veins was enough to numb the feeling of loss, making her forget everything. It was only then that she was truly happy.

Sadly, she couldn't live her whole life on hero mode (not for lack of trying, though. Stupid Leaguers wouldn't let her.) So she still had to deal with being in collage, trying to live a nice, normal, civilian life.

So yeah, Artemis was okay. She might not be fully happy, but she was surviving, which in her case, was pretty damn good.

Until she got that call.

It was early in the morning, and Artemis was up, trying to finish her Vietnamese essay. Today she was determined to keep herself fully preoccupied, so that she wouldn't be able to think about anything. Especially not Wally.

Because today was the first anniversary of when he died.

She knew that most of the team were down by his grave, setting flowers and all that other stuff, but Artemis knew that she wouldn't be able to deal with it. All she wanted to do was keep to herself so busy that she couldn't think about it. Dinah would probably say that Artemis was trying to deny her feelings and that it was unhealthy, but this is how Artemis dealt with things.

Artemis was sitting down, trying to concentrate on her essay, but it was a little distracting with all the noise Bart's video game was making. Bart had taken to staying at Artemis's house, meaning that she also had to deal with a hungry, speedster teenage boy, eating all her food and messing up her house.

As much as she complained about it, Artemis didn't really mind it at all. She loved having Bart or Lian in the house with her.

Her cell phone buzzed, and Artemis dived onto the couch, practically knocking out Bart, trying to get it before the buzzing ran out.

The caller ID showed Zatanna, and Artemis was really surprised. She hadn't heard from or seen Zatanna in about 6 months, in fact, nobody had. She had gone completely AWOL.

Artemis pressed the phone to her ear, "Zatanna?" she asked.

"Hey, Artemis. It's me." Zatanna's voice came out through the phone, sounding a bit weak.

"Where the hell have you been? No-one's been able to contact you for 6 months!" Artemis yelled at her, and she could almost imagine Zee wincing on the other side.

"I got a little… preoccupied."

"For 6 months? Couldn't you even call?"

"There isn't really any reception in other dimensions. And time moves differently there, so what I though was 6 days, turned into 6 months."

"Wait, you were in a different dimension? Zee, what the hell are you talking about?" Artemis asked through gritted teeth. She could hear faint talking in the background, and then Zatanna finally answered.

"Look, I'll explain later okay. I just need you to come here, now. I've already called Barry, and I'm pretty sure Bart's with you so can you take him along?"

"Go where? What for?" Artemis asked, but Zee had already disconnected.

Artemis couldn't help but yell some choice words at the phone, and then heard someone knocking at the door.

She opened it, and was unsurprised to see Barry standing in front of her, decked out in his Flash costume.

"Did Zatanna tell you where we're going?" Artemis asked.

Barry shook his head, "Sorry, kid. She's one hell of a mysterious girl."

Bart rushed in, "Heya, gramps. What's going on? Where's everybody going?"

Barry shrugged his shoulders, "I have no idea. Suit up and follow."

Artemis smiled slightly and grabbed her hoodie, and then went outside. Barry awkwardly held out his arms and picked Artemis up, holding her in the same way Wally used to when he was 'speeding' her to places.

Barry took off, and Artemis gripped him tighter. She had forgotten about the wonderful rush she felt when Wally sped off, the wind whipping through her hair, the cold stinging of it. It was wonderful, amazing, absolutely fantastic. Though it did make her feel a little nauseous.

Barry rolled to stop smoothly (something Wally could never do) and Bart stopped next to him. He put Artemis down, and when the world finally stopped spinning Artemis saw where she really was.

They were back at the ice, the exact same spot in which Wally ceased to exist. Artemis shivered, wishing that she had thought to bring a thicker jumper. She saw Zatanna, Nightwing, and a good-looking man in a trench coat in front of her.

"Zatara, what the hell is going on? Who is that?" Barry asked.

Zatanna smiled nervously, "Um, it's just Zatanna for me. This is John Constantine."

Zatanna pointed at the man behind her who gave a curt nod. Artemis could see Nightwing's gaze darken as he stared at Constantine, and Artemis took a mental note to ask Zatanna more about that.

"Um, no offence or anything, but who?" Bart asked, shuffling closer to the obviously freezing Artemis.

Artemis threw an arm around Bart, grateful for his body heat.

"S'okay kid. I'm no League member and all that, and I don't expect you to know me. In fact, you're better off if you don't," John said with a thick, British accent.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Barry asked angrily, and Zatanna cleared her throat.

"Maybe it would be better if we focused on the task at hand. Look, I know you guys really don't want to be here, especially not today, but I need you guys if I want to make this work."

"Make what work?" Artemis asked.

Constantine gave her a crooked smile, and Artemis couldn't help but feel a shiver run down her spine, "Zatanna's going to raise the dead," he said.

At once, there was a chorus of protest from Barry, Bart and Artemis. Nothing good comes from raising the dead, it was like magic 101.

"I am _not_ going to raise the dead," Zatanna said loudly, sending a sharp glare to Constantine.

Nightwing gave a small snort, and Artemis realised that he hadn't said a word, which was extremely strange for him. She was going to ask him a question, but Barry raised his hand.

"Zatanna, tell us exactly why we're here and what you're going to do, without the melodrama," Barry ordered.

Zatanna nodded, "Look, I really hate to be the one to cut into old wounds, but, I think it's possible that Wally is still alive."

Artemis felt a surge of emotion rush through her, and she didn't know if she wanted to yell, burst into tears or throttle Zatanna, but before she could decide, Zatanna held up her arm for silence.

"Just hear me out, okay? John is… well, he's had a lot of dealings with the underworld and ghosts and all that, and he was pretty adamant that Wally had not passed on. So we came back here, really just to humour him, and then I… felt something.

I wasn't here when Wally got vaporised. In fact, none of the League's magicians were, because any one of them would have picked up the weird vibes going around this place. It's like, there's this portal open here, a portal to another world.

I know it sounds crazy, but I think it might be true. Look, this is just John and I guessing, but think about when the Flash got hit by lightning. My father had always asked me what the most important thing was, the chemicals or the lightning. If, just maybe, the lighting was… from another plane of existence, could it be possible that Wally went there?" Zatanna finished her monologue, looking at everyone hopefully.

Barry scratched his head, "That's a lot of guess work, and also way too many gaping holes. But just say I believe you, how are you going to open this portal?"

"With your help, actually. I'm going to open a portal using magic, but I need to direct it somewhere. I'll use your speed as a sort of compass of sorts, so it can navigate me to the right 'door'," Zatanna explained.

"And you're totally sure you can do that?" Bart asked in an awed voice.

Before Zatanna could respond, Nightwing jumped in, "No. She could kill herself, but she didn't want to tell you that small piece of information," he said in an uncharacteristically harsh voice.

"Nightwing, we've gone over this. I need to try," Zatanna said through gritted teeth.

"Wally wouldn't want anyone to die for him!" Nightwing yelled.

"He would've done the same for us if he had the choice!" Zatanna yelled back.

Constantine put a calming hand on Zatanna's shoulder, which made Nightwing scowl even more. Artemis really had to ask Zatanna what was going on between them.

"Listen, Nightwing. Just let her do the bloody thing. I'll be there the whole time. If it gets too much for her, I can stop it," Constantine said.

"Then why don't you do the ritual?"

"Because I'm not as strong as Zatanna, magically speaking," Constantine yelled back.

"Enough," Artemis said finally, using her iciest tone, "Zatanna, Nightwing is right. Wally would hate it if you sacrificed your life for him. Are you sure you can do this?"

Zatanna nodded and Artemis let out a sigh, "go for it."

Zatanna drew a star on the ice with her finger, and then sat in the middle of it. Five candles appeared on each point of the star.

"Flash, Kid Flash, I need you to run around me as fast as you can," Zatanna ordered.

Both Flashes hesitated, but Zatanna glared at them so they hurried along. Artemis, Nightwing and Constantine walked further out. Soon, all Artemis could see was a yellow and red blur. She could just make out Zatanna's chanting in the middle of it.

Artemis looked on, worrying her bottom lip. This was just too surreal for her. She absent-mindedly reached for Nightwing's hand, and he clasped it back, squeezing it to show he was worried too.

There was a huge flash of lightning, which really didn't make sense seeing as the sky was clear. It hit the middle of where Bart and Barry were running, just where Zatanna was. Artemis let out a scream as both speedsters were suddenly thrown off, flying backwards into the air. Artemis raced forward, wanting to check if her best friend was alright, but Constantine grabbed her arm.

"Don't interrupt. Zatanna's got this under control," he said pointing to the middle.

Artemis moved closer with Nightwing at her heels, and soon enough, she could see Zatanna hovering in mid-air, eyes closed and hair fanning around her face. Next to her, there was this bluish white light that seemed to be rippling.

"She did it," Constantine said in an awed voice.

"Did what?" Barry asked. Both he and Bart had raced back to Artemis's side.

Constantine pointed to the light, "She opened the portal to the Speed."

Bart looked around, "I don't see Wally."

"Um, Wally?" Nightwing called into the light.

For a tense second, there was no response and just as Artemis was about to turn away, she heard something.

Something that made her heart leap into her throat.

"Dick?" the voice is faint, barely there, but Artemis could still hear it. She recognizes it too, the voice that could only belong to one person.

Wally.

Both Bart and Barry start yelling immediately, and she can hear Wally's breathy chuckle.

"Wait. Slow. How did you get here? Where are you?" Wally asked, his voice distorted. It sounded like he was underwater and had too much reverb on.

"Wally, it's me. You've got to come back," Artemis told him. Her cheeks were wet with tears she didn't even know had formed.

"Artemis? Come back?" Wally asked.

"Zatanna can't hold it for much longer," Constantine warns. Artemis glanced at Zatanna, sweat was pouring off her and she could see the light wavering.

Acting on instinct, Artemis pushed her hand into the blue light. It was overwhelming, and she felt like she was being sucked in, until she felt the strong hands of Nightwing wrap around her arm, grounding her.

"Wally, you have to take my arm," Artemis told him. She could feel the ghost of warmth in her hand, as if Wally was brushing his against hers.

"Babe, it's so beautiful in here. Come with me," Wally told her.

The blue light was shuddering violently now, and Artemis couldn't help but yell.

"Goddammit Wally, just take my hand!" she screamed at him, and when she finally felt the pressure of his hand she pulled. She pulled with all her strength, and she could feel Nightwing, Barry, Bart and even Constantine pulling on her, helping her pull Wally out. She heard Zatanna scream, and with her final burst of strength Artemis pulled Wally's hand towards her, until finally, something heavy falls on top of her.

From the corner of her eyes, she can see Constantine rush to a weak Zatanna, the blueish white light of the portal completely gone. She let out a breath, happy that Zatanna's alright, and then focuses her attention on the thing on top of her. She pushed it off of her, and then rolled around to see the naked but very much alive figure of Wally.

_Wally._

He was back.

* * *

"I hate waiting!" Artemis yelled for the billionth time that evening, and Paula just rolled her eyes at her and gave her a biscuit.

"He's just come back from the dead, give the poor boy a break," he mother scolded.

"Except that he wasn't even dead. Flash said he was trapped in something called the Speed Force," Roy stated.

Paula glared at him and he went back to rocking Lian in his arms. Artemis huffed in annoyance, and then glanced at the clock.

"I guess I should go home. Nelson would be wondering where I am," Artemis said.

"Roy, go give Artemis a ride home. I'll take Lian," Jade ordered, and with a mock bow Roy did what he was told.

He drove Artemis to Palo Alto in relative silence, and gave Artemis a quick hug before he left.

"Seriously though, don't fatally wound Wally when he gets back, okay?" Roy warned her, and Artemis smacked him on the arm.

She opened the door to her empty apartment. After cleaning the entire house, finishing her essay and all her readings, Artemis finally gave up on waiting up for Wally. Obviously, the League wasn't going to let him out tonight. Artemis dove into her still empty bed, and fell asleep on the thoughts f seeing Wally again.

* * *

"Artemis."

"Aaarrtteeeeeeemiiiiiisss."

"Arty."

"Mis."

"C'mon, please? Wake up!"

"Artemis!"

Artemis jolted up at the sound of her name, only to bump her head into something else. She squinted up to see green eyes and a halo of red hair staring down at her.

"Wally?"

His lips curled up in a smile, "The one and only, baby. Back from the dead, too."

He leaned forward, hoping to get a kiss, when Artemis punched him in the face. She twisted out of the sheets, grabbing Wally and pinning him down under her on the bed. She kept punching his chest, enunciating each of her words with a punch, "You. Let. Me. Think. You. Were. Dead. You. Stupid. Asshole."

"Yeah, I can explain. See-"

Artemis didn't realise there were tears running down her face, but she kept blubbering and rambling on, "I hate you! You left me alone for a year, one full goddamned year! I had to deal with a crying dog, do you know how hard that is? He kept crying, and my food bills were too low and I had money! And then I saw your video, I hate you for making that! I hate you! You can't leave! Please, don't leave me!"

She was crying now, full sobs wracking thorough her body. She had given up on punching him, she just lay her head on her chest, whispering over and over again. She could feel him touching her, soothing her down, playing with her hair. She could feel him breathe, she could feel the heat of his body. He was back, he was alive.

Finally, Wally West had come home.

* * *

Okay, sorry. The ending was very, very weak. Honestly, I hard the hardest time writing this chapter, but I wanted to get it out of the way for the next ones. I had a totally different ending planned, but I guess now I'll have to put that in the next chapter! I will try to get the next chapter out sooner, and I hoped you liked it!


	7. Tradition Number 7

Sorry for the long time no update, but school started and they're pretty much trying to bury us alive with homework, so updates are probably going to be very slow from now on. Thank you to all those who reviewed or gave any kind of feedback, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**Rule Number 7: You must listen to all the advice about proposing given to you by the family and friends, even if you don't want it.**

* * *

Wally was buzzing with anticipation. Literally.

His whole body was buzzing, a neat trick he had learned since appearing from the 'speed force' two years ago. He mostly had a handle on his new enhanced powers, but sometimes, if he was really nervous or excited, he couldn't stop himself from vibrating.

And today, he was super, super nervous.

For years, it had been leading up to this moment, and ever since Wally came back from the 'dead,' he knew this was what he wanted. He had been sure of this for two years now, and finally, he was going to act on it.

Surreptitiously, Wally put his hand in his pocket, touching the small diamond ring that was in there. He had had it on him for a month now, after asking his Mom for the family ring. It was technically Grandma West's, but Wally was sure that she wouldn't mind it if he gave it to Artemis.

He was pacing around their home, waiting nervously for Artemis to come home from work. He was so worked up, he didn't think it was possibly for him to stay still anymore. He went over the plan in his head over and over again.

Take Artemis to coffee shop in Gotham where they'd had their first date.

Buy her a low-fat soy milk mocha cappuccino with extra chocolate shavings (and a coffee plus a whole apple pie for him.)

Buy her a slice of black forest cake and slip the ring inside.

Watch her face erupt in surprise as she finds the ring.

Get down on one knee and propose.

Umm… hope she says yes?

Wally's plan was fool proof, he was almost 79% sure she would say yes. She had to say yes, or something. What if she didn't say anything? Or said no? Or found out she was allergic to chocolate and had an allergic reaction that led to her being on her deathbed? What if-

Wally was saved from his own idiotic rambling as the door opened with a click and Artemis's lithe body appeared in the bedroom. He smiled at her and willed his heart to slow the hell down before she got suspicious.

"Hey," he said as calmly as he could.

Obviously it wasn't good enough, because his voice cracked and Artemis raised an eyebrow, "Hey yourself. Didn't you say we're going out tonight? You're not even dressed!"

Wally nodded and ran his fingers through his hair, "Oh, yeah. Give me a sec and then we'll zeta to Gotham, okay?"

Artemis smiled and walked out the room, allowing Wally to let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He quickly pulled on a shirt and pants, hoping for the best.

Sadly for him, he didn't know that he wouldn't even be able to get up to stage 3 of his grand proposal plan.

* * *

The café was exactly as Wally remembered it, cramped with a mash of 50's décor, including black and white tiled floors and a live jukebox. The wall was littered with 50s memorabilia, and the waitress even wore a stereo-typical waiter's uniform.

Wally and Artemis slid into their favourite booth at the end of the café.

"I haven't been to this place in ages!" Artemis said, pawing through the café menu.

Wally put his hand down on the menu, pulling it away from her.

"You want a low-fat soy milk mocha cappuccino with extra chocolate shavings and a black forest cake, right?" Wally asked.

Artemis smiled slowly, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, "You know it."

Laughing, Wally got up from the table and made his way to the counter, looking through his wallet for the right amount of notes.

"Well, look who finally came to Gotham City," a familiar voice said from behind him.

Wally turned as was unsurprised to see Dick smirking at him. He was however, very surprised to see Zatanna standing beside him.

"Dick? Zee? What are you guys doing here?" Wally asked.

"Well, I do kind of live here…" Dick replied.

"I meant, what are you two doing here _together_," Wally emphasized, waggling his eyebrows.

Dick and Zatanna suddenly looked very uncomfortable, and Wally punched Dick lightly on the shoulder, "Nice."

Zatanna glared at him, "We're just hanging out."

"Oh, sure. You two are just _hanging out_ here, like you two are probably going to end up just _hanging out_ in Dick's bedroom- Ow! Dude," Wally whined as Dick punched him none-too-gently on his shoulder.

"What about you Wall-man? Isn't Gotham a little far from where you live," Dick asked.

"I'm here with Artemis, on a special date that no- you two cannot interrupt," Wally said before either of them could even ask.

"A special date? Like, what kind of special?" Zatanna asked, intrigued.

"Like tonight I'm going to ask her to marry me kind of special," Wally replied.

Zatanna let out a shriek that caused quite a few people to turn around and look at them, while Dick just let out his usual, annoying cackle.

Wally looked around fearfully, wondering if Artemis had seen them, but she was still absorbed in her newspaper.

"Finally, man! How're you going to do it?" Dick asked.

"I'm going to slip the ring in the cake and then watch her reaction," Wally said proudly.

There was suddenly a tense, unnerving silence. Dick and Zatanna both stared at Wally.

"What?" he asked.

"I'll go distract Artemis, you make sure Wally doesn't go near that cake," Zatanna told Dick.

Dick nodded, and Zatanna walked away, leaving a very clueless Wally behind.

"What do you mean distract Artemis? And what about that cake?"

"Dude, I don't know how to break this to you, but… You can't propose to Artemis."

"Why the hell not?" Wally asked indignantly.

"Seriously? Putting a ring inside her cake? That is the stupidest proposal idea I've ever heard of!"

"I thought it was good!"

"Exactly."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Look," Dick said, raking his fingers though his hair, "You guys are my best friends, and there is no way in hell that I am going to let you ruin your one good relationship because of your stupid as hell proposal. Zatanna and I will stick with you tonight; go on a bit of a double date and make sure you don't do anything stupid. Okay?"

"No," Wally answered.

Dick smiled, steering him to the front of the counter, "Wally, you don't get a choice."

* * *

Wally tossed and turned in his bed that night. His perfect proposal scenario had been hijacked by his two 'best friends' who were doing this for 'his own good'. Which pretty much resulted in a night with him glaring at both Zatanna and Dick as the made sure they wouldn't leave him or Artemis alone together. Wally was half-expecting them to sleep over tonight too.

He turned over, his arm outstretching across the bed, expecting to find a nice warm body. Instead, there were only empty sheets, and Wally almost panicked. Then he remembered that Artemis had to go to work early today, and calmed down a bit. Ever since her stint as Tigress undercover, Wally was always a bit jumpy when he couldn't feel or see her.

"Aw, he's so cute, outstretching his arm and all. It's like he's looking for her."

"He needs to cut his hair. I swear that I can't even see his head from under that red mop."

Wally tensed, hearing those strange voices talking behind him.

"Shh, he'll wake up if you don't keep quiet."

"Maybe we should wake him up. It's kind of boring watching him sleep."

"I think he's drooling."

Okay… This was getting weird. Wally swore he knew those voices, but he just couldn't place them. He turned over again, hoping that if he ignored them they would go away. Until he got a whiff of something distinctly sweet and buttery.

Waffles.

Using his super speed, Wally sprang out of bed, landing directly in front of the source of the aroma. He saw a plate full of waffles, and behind it, saw the huge green eyes of Bart looking at him.

"Sup?" Bart said.

Wally jerked back, focusing so he could take in his entire bedroom. Dick, Barbra, Zatanna, M'gnn, Conner, Tim, Cassie, Jaime and Bart were all squashed into his bedroom, watching him.

"What the hell are you doing in my bedroom!?" He yelled at them, panicked.

"Chill, Wally. We wanted to help,"M'gnn said in a placating tone.

"Help? With what? Scaring me to death? Coz Megs, you guys did a pretty good job!" Wally yelled at them.

"No, we wanted to help with your proposal," Barbra said.

"My… what?"

"P-R-O-P-O-S-A-L. Don't worry, Dick told us and we wanted to help," Tim said, spelling it out.

Wally was silent for a moment, and then took a deep breath, "SERIOUSLY?" he yelled, little flecks of spit forming at his mouth, "YOU COME INTO MY HOUSE WHILE I'M ASLEEP, JUST BECAUSE YOU WANT TO HELP ME WITH SOME STUPID PROPOSAL THAT I COULD DO FINE ON MY OWN? THIS IS LIKE, A FEDERAL CRIME! GET OUT!"

Wally was expecting a stampede out 'sorry's' and 'we'll never bother you again.' But of course, because they were his stupid friends, they just rolled their eyes.

Conner chucked a pair of pants and a shirt to Wally, "Get changed. We'll meet you in the kitchen for debriefing."

* * *

Changed and showered, Wally made his way out to his living room where the team seemed to have been very comfortable hanging out. He made himself a PB&J sandwich and settled himself on the couch between Jaime and Bart.

"Stop eating all my food!" Wally grumbled.

Dick rolled his eyes, munching happily and a piece of toast, "Seeing as I pay your food bill, this is technically my food."

"You're such a dick."

"Ahem," Barbra said, calling everyone to attention.

She played around with the buttons of her wrist thingy, that made a hologram of a graph appear in the living room.

"So, today we're all here to help Wally propose to Artemis. First item on the agenda, the setting," she said.

"On the beach!" Cassie said immediately, and Tim nodded in agreement.

"A restaurant. Somewhere she can eat," Bart put in.

"No way, ese. Go somewhere like a skate park so she can do things," Jaime put in.

"She's not fifteen. She needs somewhere elegant, like a theatre or fancy restaurant at the Eiffel Tower," Zatanna answered.

"I think it should be somewhere special, like where they had their first date or where they first met," M'gnn said.

Barbra nodded, writing everything down on the hologram of hers, "And now we need a how."

"Keep it traditional, kneel and propose," Dick said.

"Agreed. Anything else would be weird," Tim said.

"Nah," Conner disagreed, "this is Artemis we're talking about. She loves weird. Do something cheesy and romantic, like a skywriter."

After writing down everyone's endless suggestions, Barbra finally turned to Wally.

"Well, what do you think?"

"You mean I actually get a say?" Wally answered rudely, "look, I appreciate all the suggestions, but I still have one question. Why are you doing this?"

"Because it's you. It's Artemis and Wally. You guys have had the best relationship for over seven years now. We can't let it end," Zatanna said.

"She's right. We had to go through the Cameron and Jinx stage, and then the Linda era that lasted for ages, and yet, you still got back together. We're all rooting for this relationship to work," Dick said.

"Wow, really?" Wally asked, and in answer, got a smack in the head by Cassie (which, by the way, really hurt.)

"So which scenario are you going to choose?" Jaime asked.

Before Wally could respond, their communicators went off, alerting everyone that there was trouble at the WatchTower.

"Duty calls," Wally yelled out, and sped out of the room before anyone could question him.

* * *

Even after two years, Wally still felt a little weird donning the Flash costume. It had been Barry's position for so long, he still couldn't get over the fact the he was now the Flash. Barry had given him the cowl ever since he decided to quit the hero work and raise a 'normal' family with Aunt Iris.

Still, Wally loved being in the WatchTower. He was the youngest of the leading seven, and it did get quite annoying because he was always treated as a child.

He did, however, get unlimited access to the canteen food, which pretty much made up for everything.

Tonight, Wally was hiding out in the back of the WatchTower. After assisting Batman and Wonder Woman take down The Royal Flush Gang, he was sitting around, looking out the window into space and trying to avoid… everyone.

"You alright there, Wally?" the ever calming voice of Black Canary called out from behind him.

Wally jumped up, ready to run away as soon as possible.

"Whoa, easy there. It's just me," Canary said, putting her arms up in surrender.

Wally gave her a half-hearted smile and sat back down. She joined him, and took it as a good sign that he didn't edge way.

"What's up? The team is in the canteen, waiting for you pretty eagerly," Canary informed him.

Wally groaned, "Funnily enough, I'm actually trying to _avoid_ them."

"I'm sure what you did wasn't that bad."

"Hey! It wasn't me!"

Canary raised an eyebrow at him, and Wally muttered, "I swear."

"Then what is it?"

"It's just… they've given me… uh, some _suggestions_ of how to do something, and I don't really know what to do now."

Canary was quiet for a minute, then got up and patted his shoulder, "I'm sure they mean well and are probably trying to do this for your own good."

"That's exactly what they said."

"But, if you don't feel comfortable with what they say, then just do things your way and see how they turn out, okay?"

Wally looked up at her, and Canary smiled and walked away. He turned his attention back to the window. He didn't know how she did it, but Canary always seemed to be able to say the right things. Getting up, Wally raced off to the canteen, ready to face his teammates and give them his decision.

* * *

As Wally practically crashed through the canteen doors, he started yelling at everyone, not bothering to take in his surroundings.

"OKAY GUYS, I'VE MADE UP MY MIND. I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP AND I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO SAY. I'M GOING TO GO UP TO ARTEMIS RIGHT NOW, GET DOWN ON ONE KNEE AND PROPOSE. AND I'M NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING FANCY. I'M GOING TO TELL HER THAT I LOVE HER, THAT I CAN'T IMAGINE NOT LIVING WITH HER AND BEING TOGETHER. AND THEN I'M GOING TO START RAMBLING AND THERE IS NOT A SINGLE THING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!"

Wally finished his speech, breathing harshly. He looked around the room, looking at the shocked expressions on everyone's faces.

"Yes," a quiet, throaty voice said from behind him.

Wally whirled around only to come face to face with the exact person he was talking about.

Artemis.

His wind running on overdrive, Wally quickly glanced around, looking at the expressions on all his teammates faces. They were watching him with a mortified interest, waiting to see what he would do next.

Without thinking, Wally whipped out the engagement ring and bent down on one knee in front of Artemis.

"Artemis, babe, that was so not meant to happen that way. I'm so sorry. I wanted it to be perfect so I'm just going to do a short version of what I actually wanted to say. I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I want to grow old with you and spend every moment with you by my side. I-" Wally was suddenly cut off as Artemis pressed her lips against his, kissing him.

Wally completely forgot what he was going to say next and just circled his arms around her, drawing her close.

Artemis pulled away, wiping away tears from her eyes, "I already said yes, you idiot. And it was perfect. Especially since I've been waiting for this moment for two years."

"You knew?"

"Your mother called me the minute you asked her for your grandmothers engagement ring."

Wally smirked, sliding the ring onto her finger and picking her up bridal style, "Then I guess I should've done it a long time ago."

"Uh, _duh_ Wally," Artemis agreed, and leant up to kiss him again.

He could hear the sounds of everyone 'ooh' and 'aah'-ing across the room, but right now, he only had eyes for Artemis.

Except when he had to duck because there was an arrow whizzing dangerously close to his head.

Wally dropped Artemis and turned around to see an enraged Oliver Queen, holding his bow and knocking back an arrow at him, "Who the hell said you could propose to Artemis!" he yelled.

Wally cowered in the corner while Artemis rolled her eyes and joined Black Canary and tried to soothe Oliver.

If Oliver was acting like this, Artemis had to wonder how much harder it would be to tell her dad and sister.

* * *

Yay! Finally got this chapter done! This is a major spoiler for the next chapter, but does anyone know any traditions for a bachelor/bachelorette party? If so, could you please tell me? Thanks! Please read and review.


	8. Tradition Number 8

Okay, so I finally got this chapter up! I hope you enjoy it, and thank you to everyone who left any suggestions as to what could happen at a bachelor party. Thank you again, and remember, please review!

* * *

**Tradition Number 8: When it comes to the bachelor/bachelorette party, the entire evening is planned by the friends and the said bachelor/bachelorette cannot do anything to stop them.**

* * *

Artemis still can't get over the whole 'being engaged' thing.

Seriously, she actually can't stop looking at the elegant diamond ring on her hand, and she's had it there for like, six months. It feels like a weight on her hand, reminding her that _yes_, she is going to get married.

And it's like, a huge deal, because her family hasn't really had the best history in marriages (you know, her mom and dad, and then the whole Jade and Roy thing.)

But Artemis is determined to make this work out. She knows will stick with Wally till the very end, and probably even after that, seeing as they've each both come back from the dead.

Whenever she's with Wally now, everything feels… intense. It's like they just started their relationship again. Every time Artemis sees Wally now, it feels like she's got a dozen butterflies raging war in her stomach. She can barely breath when he's there, which is pretty annoying seeing as she lives with him.

And it so does not help that whenever she and Wally are together her friends keep shooting her smirks and knowing glances.

It's not a bad feeling though. Artemis is pretty sure she's happy, and she doesn't think that she's ever been this happy in her life.

A couple of years ago, she would have retched at how desperate and in love she sounds, but then again, a couple of years ago Artemis hadn't met and lost Wally; she hadn't known that it was possible to love someone this much.

So yeah, Artemis is scared, worried, happy and ecstatic all at the same time, and really, she doesn't want it to ever end.

* * *

Even though it was Artemis' wedding, Artemis was doing a lot of not-planning. In the first few weeks of being engaged, she had her whole wedding details all planned out. Artemis wanted a quiet, low-key affair on the beach, without much fanfare and all that. She and Wally had a low-budget, so she was more than happy to wear her mom's old wedding dress.

Then Oliver Queen came on the scene, assuring her that no niece of his was going to have a low-budget wedding, so Artemis' wedding plans came crashing around her feet.

Now, Artemis was having a huge wedding on the Queen's private beach, and all the League and team members were invited. She was getting a specially designed wedding dress from some famous designer (Artemis vaguely remembered the designers name as Vera something) a gourmet three-course meal at her reception, and she was pretty sure that she heard Dinah say something about fireworks.

To sum it all up, her wedding had been hi-jacked by her friends and family.

It was exactly one day before the wedding, and Artemis was with her mom, Mary, Dinah, Zatanna and M'gnn, discussing last minute wedding details. It pretty much meant everyone was screaming at each other while Artemis ignored them all and texted Wally, who was preparing for his bachelor's night with Dick, Conner and Roy.

"They don't have any more orchids, apparently the last ones died-" Mary said frantically.

"What kind of flower services has dead orchids? Oh, God! What are we going to do?" M'gnn cried.

"Tell them to send the dead orchids; I'll magic them to life."

"And what about the catering service? They called to say they haven't gotten any lamb kebabs!" M'gnn said again, her knuckled going a paler green over the phone she was holding.

"What about the prawn cakes?" Paula suggested

"No, we can't serve seafood as a starter; we already have a seafood dish!" Dinah snapped.

"Ugh, this is a disaster!" Mary wailed.

Artemis rolled her eyes and went back to texting Wally. She had no idea of when they all became food experts, but apparently, planning a wedding does strange things to you.

Someone tapped her shoulder and Artemis looked up, startled.

"Have you been listening to anything we've been saying?" Paula asked her, sounding very much like the scolding mother she usually was.

"Nope," Artemis said, unabashedly.

Paula rolled her eyes at her and went back to discussing napkin arrangements with Mary and M'gnn. Artemis yawned loudly, tipping her chair backwards. She supposed she should be feeling super nervous with her wedding being tomorrow and everything, but seriously, it was hard to get excited when people were talking about freaking flower arrangements.

Zatanna smirked at her, casually popping a grape that was sitting on the table in her mouth, "I sincerely hope that you're not that tired when it comes to your bachelorette party."

Artemis shot her a quizzical look, "I thought my bachelorette party was a quiet, sophisticated affair with my family."

Zatanna snorted, "No. I mean the party Raquel, M'gnn and I planned."

"What is it?"

"It's a surprise, Artemis. And I'm not going to ruin it for you. So be a good girl and pay attention to the boring details of your wedding, okay?"

Artemis kicked Zatanna under the table and Zatanna retaliated by poking her tongue out at her.

* * *

When Dick said bachelor party, two things came to Wally's mind: alcohol and strippers.

Now, the alcohol bit Wally could do without, seeing as his speedster metabolism meant that he couldn't get drunk no matter how much he drunk (which was both a good and bad thing at collage parties) but he was still expecting some sweet strippers.

What he got was even better.

It started off at the Wayne Manor, where Wally arrived early so he and Dick could prepare for the night, which really meant that he and Dick played COD and texted Artemis.

"Dude, I can't believe you're getting married," Dick told him.

"I can't believe that you just got killed by the guy on the other team. Are you even paying attention?" [A/N I should probably mention here that I have never played Call of Duty in my life and have no idea of what the game is about. Sorry!]

"I'm serious. How did you know she was the one?"

Wally cocked his head to the side, thinking for a moment, "I think I really knew when I was in the speed force. I couldn't do anything, and she was the only thing I could think about. When I got out, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her."

"So what about Jinx and Linda?"

Wally shuddered, "Please, don't ever talk about Jinx again. That was one mistake I really didn't need to make."

"And Linda? You were so close to proposing to her!" Dick prompted.

"Hmm… she was good. But not the right person for me. There was something missing, and really, only Artemis had it."

Dick looked at him sideways, "Dude, you're in way too deep."

Wally chucked his popcorn at him, "Trust me, when you find the right one, you'll be exactly like me. In fact, you'll probably be completely _enticed_ by the _magic_ of your woman."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dick said indignantly.

"You'll see."

Dick retaliated by chucking his popcorn at him.

The door opened, and Alfred walked in, escorting Roy and Conner with him.

"Master Richard, you're friends have arrived," he said.

"Thanks, Alfred. We'll probably be leaving soon, kay?"

"Of course," Alfred said, walking away.

Conner and Roy greeted Wally and Dick enthusiastically, and then made themselves comfortable in the room.

"So, when are we leaving?" Roy asked.

"I have to go get changed. Did you bring the suit?" Dick asked.

"Yep," Conner said, producing a green bag.

Conner chucked the bag at Wally, "Get changed. We're going to hit the town tonight," he said.

* * *

In less than 20 seconds, Wally changed into the comfortable (and probably designer) suit. He didn't bother asking Dick about how he knew his size, because Wally doubted that there was anything that the Bats didn't know. He had combed and gelled his hair, and was now following Dick to the Wayne's personal airport.

Soon, Roy, Conner Wally and Dick had boarded the privet jet, and were being served alcoholic beverages as the plane took off.

"Dick, seriously, where the hell are we going?" Wally asked, stuffing his face with the roast lamb that had been presented to him.

"Two words amigo: strippers and casinos," Dick said, giving his signature cackle.

Wally's eyes went round with excitement, "No freaking way. We're actually?"

"Yep," Roy said smugly, reclining back in his seat, "We're going to Vegas."

* * *

It was technically Artemis' last night of freedom, and to be honest, she was a tad bit disappointed to be spending it like this. She loved being with her family and friends, and the restaurant they were at was really, really nice, but all of it was just so… not her.

She felt bad thinking it, but she was kind of relieved when the night finally ended.

Artemis left the fancy restaurant, hoping to hail a cab so she could go back home, when she felt Zatanna grab her elbow.

"Where do you think you're going? The night's not over yet!" Zatanna said manically.

Artemis grinned at her and allowed Zatanna to drag her down to an abandoned alley where M'gnn and Raquel were waiting for her.

"Where are we going?" Artemis asked.

"Patience, grasshopper. All will be revealed. But first, Zatanna, I think a change of clothes is in order?" Raquel said.

Zatanna nodded and quickly said, "Egnahc ruo stifuo onti gnithgif raeg!"

Smoke swirled around them, and Artemis looked down to see that they were all wearing matching black skin-tight uniforms and black masks.

"And I think we also need a little transportation?" M'gnn prompted, grinning at Artemis wickedly.

Zatanna said, "Ekat su ot eht gnithgif anera!"

Smoke swirled around them again, and Artemis completely lost her bearings. When she was finally steady enough to be able to see where she was, Artemis nearly gasped out loud.

She was standing next to them in a crowded, loud place. There were tons of strange looking creatures and even stranger looking drinks, with lots of yelling and everything you could imagine. There was a main podium in the centre of the stage, where Artemis could see two aliens battling each other.

"Welcome to Rimbor's inter-galactic fighting competition," Raquel said.

"Guys…" Artemis trailed off, looking around her in wonder.

"Don't you like it?" M'gnn asked worriedly.

Artemis laughed, grinning in satisfaction, "This is so perfect! I l love it! I just have one question though," Artemis grinned wickedly at the group, "why aren't we fighting?"

* * *

Right, sorry for ending it there, but I really didn't want to go into the whole stripper and fight club scene, so you guys are just going to have to imagine what would have happened. Anyway, I have a big chapter that I've been wanting to write for quite a while now, and I can finally start it! Please leave any kind of feedback!


	9. Tradition Number 9

I finally finished this chapter! This is probably the longest thing I have ever written, and I really hope you like it. I spent ages on Google trying to find any kind of traditions one might have at a wedding, and I even found some Vietnamese ones! I had been planning this chapter for ages, so I'm really glad I finally got it done. There isn't much to say, except read, enjoy, and please, review!

* * *

**West Family Tradition Number 9: All traditions written in the West Family Wedding Book must be obeyed whilst getting married.**

* * *

STAGE 1: GETTING READY.

The bed was like pure, cotton heaven surrounding Artemis's aching limbs. It was that time where everything in the bed was perfect; the temperature just right, her limbs in just the right places; it was one of the best sleeps she had ever had.

And then, of course, and alarm had to go off right beside her ear, jarring her awake.

Artemis grumbled audibly, glaring at the offender through her blonde eyelashes. She caught a glimpse of Zatanna's smirking face staring down at her. Artemis groaned and turned her head away, only to be blinded by light as the curtains in the plush hotel they were staying at (courtesy of Oliver) were thrown open, so that the light shone through them.

Artemis tried to snuggle under her sheets, but they were abruptly pulled off her. So she did the next best thing; she reached for the vase beside her and hurled it around the room.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, as Artemis was thinking) M'gnn used her telekinesis to stop the vase and place it gently on the nightstand beside Artemis.

"Jeez, 'Mis. No wonder Wally keeps complaining about how hard it is to wake you up," Raquel said with an amused tone her voice.

"Zee, it's like, 6 in the morning. Go awaaay," Artemis groaned, curling up into a little ball.

"Um, hello Artemis? We're not going to go anywhere! It's your wedding day!" M'gnn yelled excitedly.

Oh, yeah. That.

Artemis Crock was getting married.

She was actually going to get _married_.

In her head, Artemis started mentally freaking out. She sat up straight in her bed, breathing shakily.

"Today… I'm… really?" was all Artemis could say.

Zee rolled her eyes, "The one time Artemis Crock is speechless, and I don't even have my camera with me."

"I can go get mine!" M'gnn volunteered.

"Guys! Oh my God, I'm freaking getting married! Let me freak out in peace, okay?" Artemis snapped back at them, causing all of them to burst into laughter.

Raquel grabbed Artemis's hands, linking them with M'gnn and Zatannas'.

"She's gonna get married, she's gonna get married," Raquel chanted, moving around in a circle.

Artemis tried her best to smile back at them, trying to ignore the huge ball of worry settling in her stomach. For some weird reason, her head felt light and she felt like there were a huge squad of cheerleading butterflies in her stomach. Actually, no; butterflies were way to tame for that description. It felt more like there were a bunch of seagulls having a riot in her stomach.

It felt like… like she was _scared_. Which didn't make any sense, because, _hello_, today was the day she was meant to be marrying the guy of her dreams. Today is meant to be perfect. She's meant to be _happy_.

Why the hell is she so nervous then?

"If you three are done there," a quiet voice said from behind her.

Artemis turned around to see Jade, wearing the dark green dress Artemis had set out for her bridesmaids. She tried to stop the grin that was taking over her face, but she couldn't help it. No matter what they'd been through, seeing Jade here was probably the best thing that's happened so far.

"Everyone wants to see you downstairs. To help get ready and all that," Jade finished.

M'gnn, Zatanna and Raquel all raced ahead, chattering excitedly among themselves.

"You came," Artemis said to Jade.

"I wouldn't miss seeing my baby sister getting married. Especially if it means I can torment Roy for a bit too. Dad sends his regards," Jade said casually. She brushed past Artemis without a second glance, "I'll see you at the church. I have a feeling that the others might not want me here."

Artemis watched Jade disappear, feeling the smile stretch across her face. Her sister, always the drama queen. Sure, she was disappointed her dad wouldn't show up, but then again, Artemis didn't really expect him to come. Seriously, she had shudders thinking about what kind of conversation her dad and Ollie might have.

Artemis took a long, relaxing shower, not bothering to feel bad about keeping her family (and future family!) and friends wait. They were probably enjoying the spa and other facilities the hotel had to offer, because really, when you splurge this much for a fancy-ass hotel you might as well enjoy the whole experience. After the shower, Artemis changed into a simple, yellow dress and assessed herself in the mirror. There were bruises decorating her legs from last night's _activities_, but they wouldn't be visible under her wedding dress. The bruise on her shoulder and bags under her eyes were a bit more bothersome, but come on, there were a bunch of super-powered ladies downstairs. One of them had to have the power to take away bruises.

And if they couldn't, well, that was what make-up was for anyway.

Artemis towel-dried her hair and then made her way down to the hall. She ignored all the weird glances she was getting from being barefoot with wet hair in this fine establishment. It was her wedding day for crying out loud; she was allowed to look unkempt for now.

Artemis glanced at the clock before she reached the main hall – 7:00. There was still three and a half hours before she was needed at the church. Three and a half hours before her life completely changed.

She stood outside the spa doors where she could hear everyone getting ready. Artemis bit her lip and started twisting the engagement ring around her finger – a nervous habit she had developed.

She couldn't understand it. Being nervous or scared was not something a Crock should feel. Especially seeing as this was meant to be the happiest day in her life. She _should_ be happy. She _was _happy. She was so, definitely happy.

Artemis took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Right now, all she wanted to do was call Wally and just hear his voice again, something that would be sure to soothe her nerves. She wanted to hear him and his ridiculous jokes; she just wanted to see him and his gorgeous red hair.

But of course, she couldn't. Mary had this weird law that Artemis and Wally could not see or hear each other before the wedding. She had said something about the West Family Wedding book? Artemis didn't know, and frankly, she didn't care. By now, she was used to the weird things Wally and his family did.

Artemis opened the door and took a quick peek inside. Everyone seemed to be occupied getting their nails and hair done. Maybe she could slip by unnoticed, quietly get her dress on, and run away before anyone saw her?

"ARTEMIS! Finally, you're here!" Dinah called out loudly, nearly knocking out the lady manicuring her nails in the process.

Artemis winced inwardly. So much for plan: 'being unnoticed.'

"Hey, Dinah. Mary. Mom," she greeted weakly.

Her mom shouted something out in the background, and suddenly three stylists grabbed Artemis's hands and pulled her in front of a mirror. One seized her hand, tutting about the quality of them (she fought _crime_ every night, as if Artemis was really going to care about the quality of her nails.) One stylist grabbed her hair, painfully twisting it to the side and playing around with it. The other stylist approached Artemis's face, wielding what looked like an instrument of torture.

"It's an eyelash curler Artemis, relax," Raquel called out from the other side of the room where she was putting on the finishing touches of her make-up.

Artemis tried to stick her tongue out at her, but the stylist had a very firm grip on her face.

Artemis groaned inwardly and sunk lower in the chair, trying to enjoy having three people prod and poke her face, arms and hair. She tried to block out all the other noises around her, trying to practise that trick her mom taught her for calming down. Artemis wasn't very good at it (not enough patience, her mother said) but right now she was willing to try anything.

A while later, Artemis felt on huge tug on her hair, and then the stylist stepped back, saying "it's all done now honey."

Artemis was about to open her eyes when she heard Zatanna shout.

"Wait! Don't open your eyes yet. Wear the dress first so you get the full experience," Zee said.

Artemis rolled her eyes, "I've already seen the dress, Zee. I tried it on, remember?" But nonetheless, Artemis kept her eyes closed.

She could hear the rustling of fabric behind her, so Artemis took off the thin yellow dress and with the assistance of M'gnn, she stepped into her wedding dress. She could feel the cold material brush against her body until it was finally tugged in place. Artemis sucker her stomach in as the dress was zipped up, constricting her ribcage.

She could feel Mary turn her around, and slowly, Artemis opened her eyes.

Artemis couldn't help but let out a tiny gasp at her reflection. The wedding dress was beautiful, one of the only things she actually had a say in in the wedding. It was a high collared white sleeveless dress, with a lace pattern on the back and around the collar. The front design was simple lace pattern that had short train going from it from the back. Her white ballets styled heels were barely visible from the front. The stylist had done an intricate braid around the top of her hair where the veil would be, but had otherwise left her hair alone. What astonished Artemis the most was her face. The make-up artist had done something amazing, making her cheek-bones more pronounced, eyes darker, lips redder and then made her face have this shining quality. It was almost like looking at a beautiful stranger.

"You look beautiful, _con gai_," her mother whispered, tears shining from her eyes.

Artemis nodded silently, scared that she might burst into tears if she tried to talk. She looked at Zatanna, M'gnn and Raquel, all looking gorgeous as they were the emerald green bridesmaid outfits. Raquel and Zatanna were trying to save their make-up, but M'gnn was all out bawling happy tears.

Dinah and Mary looked equally as happy, each of them hugging Artemis and Paula.

Dinah looked at her watch and then yelled out a squeak of surprise.

"It's 10. The wedding starts in half an hour! We should go to the church and get set up! Come on, let's go see that limousine Oliver has so graciously let us use," Dinah said, ushering them all out to the car.

* * *

_Meanwhile, in Vegas… _

For a guy who couldn't get drunk, Wally sure had a massive headache. It felt like there was a little gremlin hammering away inside his head, trying to split open. And it so did not help that there was this stupid, incessant ringing going on through the house. Who the hell sets an alarm this early in the morning?

Wally rolled onto his back, trying to find a comfy position and get back to sleep. Ugh, he felt like shit. Seriously, next time he was not going to drink 4 kegs of beer, just because he could.

The ringing grew louder, and finally, Wally heard someone answer the damn thing.

"Heelloo?" Dick's tired voice rang out through the room.

"Dick, is that you? Are you here yet?" Zatanna's voice came out from the speaker.

"Here? Where here?" Dick asked.

"What do you mean where here? Hello, Dick! Wally's wedding is today, remember!?"

Ah, shit.

Wally jerked up right immediately, ignoring the sense of nausea he got from that action. Shit, shit, shit. He was getting married. _Today_.

"Heh, of course we remember! We're almost there," Dick lied sheepishly.

"Well, you better be. The wedding starts in half an hour! Zee out."

Wally stared at Dick, who had dark circles under his eyes and whose clothes were fully rumpled and ripped. Dick looked as bad as Wally felt. He ran a finger through his red hair, rubbing his other hand across the face in an effort to wake himself up a little more.

"Can we make it to the wedding on time?" Wally asked.

"As long as we leave now and hope to God nothing bad happens, yeah, sure," Dick said.

"Okay, cool. Help me find the others and we're outta here," Wally said, taking in the horrible mess that their room was in.

The fancy hotel they had been staying in was trashed. Remnants of their activities last night were scattered all over the room, like lots of champagne glasses, cards (because when you're with the son of Bruce Wayne, the casino comes to you) and what looked like the remains of the strippers feathered outfit. They had obviously fallen asleep in the living room, and Wally was very happy to say he remembered most of what happened the night before.

He was, however, extremely disconcerted to realise that he had no idea where Conner, Kaldur or Roy were. One minute they were trying to strip the strippers (actually, Roy was the only one harassing the strippers. Conner was confused as to what the stripper was doing, while Kaldur was trying to be a gentleman and looked away as the stripper stripped.)

Dick nodded at him, and Wally went off to the kitchen, hoping that a sandwich would clear his head. As he munched down on his snack, he headed to the bedroom so he could change into his tux and get out of here.

He opened the door and almost yelled in surprise. Conner was sleeping peacefully _in the freaking closet_. Had the guy learned nothing about the comforts of a bed yet?

"Dude, wake up!" Wally yelled at him, punching his shoulder (which actually really hurt, because you know, kryptonian skin and all that.)

Conner jerked awake wincing at the harsh light of the bedroom.

"Can you turn the lights down? Some people are trying to sleep."

"Dude, my WEDDING is on in like, HALF AN HOUR. Get your butt out of that closet and change into your tux. Dick, have you found everyone yet?"

Conner winced as Wally yelled loudly.

"Yeah, he was in the bathtub. Haven't seen Roy anywhere, though," Dick yelled back.

Wally grumbled audibly. He threw a tux at Conner, super-changed into his own and then threw two at Dick and Kaldur. "You guys change and try and call Roy. I'll do a quick scout of the area and see if Roy's there."

Without even waiting for their replies, Wally raced off, scouring all the floors of the hotel in less than 30 seconds. He reappeared at their room, happy to see everyone was trying to put their tuxes on. Kaldur was looking thoroughly worn out, and he looked like he was about to fall asleep on the spot. Dick looked much better; he had somehow gotten rid of the dark circles and was once again his perky, peppy self. Conner looked the same as always wearing his trademark scowl.

"No Roy?" Conner asked.

"Not a trace. And we seriously don't have enough time to look for him! I'm going to be late for my own wedding!" Wally cried.

"You're late for everything," Dick pointed out un-helpfully.

Kaldur straightened his suit and then patted Wally's arm, "Relax, my friend. We will get there on time. And we'll find Roy too. Let us go."

Kaldur made a move towards the door, but Conner quickly stopped him, "You forgot your pants," he deadpanned.

Kaldur blushed and hastily moved away. Dick snapped his cell phone shut, "Just called the jet. They're waiting on the roof. Do we find Roy or go to the wedding?"

Wally groaned, "How about we find Roy after the wedding? In the meantime, we can get Arsenal to replace him."

Dick gave him a sour look, "I hope that was a joke, Wall-man. Otherwise, that would've been the most ridiculous plan ever. Have you forgotten that Arsenal is missing an arm?!"

Wally threw his arms up but Kaldur intervened, "Stop wasting time and get to the helicopter," he ordered.

Muttering darkly, Wally followed the boys to the helicopter, where they were surprised (and kind of relieved) to see Roy, wearing a rumpled tux, sleeping in the roof with all the strippers next to him.

"Looks like Roy had a private after party. So not fair!" Dick pouted.

"Complain about how Roy stole the strippers later, okay? We need to get to my wedding!" Wally yelled.

Dick rolled his eyes and hopped into the helicopter. Kaldur followed him, and then Conner grabbed Roy and dragged him in. Wally glanced at his watch and hopped into the helicopter; 10:10. Yep, he could make it. Everything was going to be completely fine. He could totally make this.

But of course, because it was him, of course it wasn't going to be that easy.

* * *

STAGE TWO – GETTING THERE

The limousine ride to the church was highly uneventful, but extremely fun anyway. They all had a ball singing karaoke and drinking (non-alcoholic) wine. When they finally reached the place it was 10:25, and Artemis could see there were tons of guests that had already arrived. Iris, Dinah and Mary jumped out of the car as soon as possible, running up to their men. Zatanna, Raquel and M'gnn went ahead to organize the final touches, leaving Artemis with just her mom.

Her mom led Artemis away from the crowd and into a small room in the cathedral, where Artemis could get ready in private. Her mom was bustling around in the wheelchair, happy tears running down her face already. Artemis, on the other hand, was having serious trouble breathing. She felt dizzy, sick and light-headed. There was this huge part of her that was asking what the hell she was doing.

She was Artemis Crock, she didn't deserve this fairy-tale wedding. She was the bad guy trying to fit in with the heroes. She was the daughter of two assassins. Artemis Crock sure as hell didn't deserve her Wonderland.

Even though these thoughts were tumbling in her brain, Artemis tried to ignore them and focus on her mom.

"- rains today. It would be so good!" Paula said.

"Rains? Mom, that's a bad thing!"

"Not at all! If it rains, it means good luck and prosperity for the married couple. It's a Vietnamese wedding tradition. Which reminds me, I need to find something to break," Paula added in an after-though.

"Break?"

"If you break something, it means good luck. And also a little advice, step on Wally's foot while you're walking. It means he'll listen to your every whim."

"He does that anyway," Artemis said cheekily.

Paula laughed lightly, and then reached up to envelop her daughter in a hug.

"I'm so proud of you," Paula whispered, "I'm so happy that you're going to be happy. This was all I ever wanted for you, and I want you to know that I am so very, very proud. I wish you all the luck in the world, and I know that you will be happy."

"Thank you," Artemis whispered back, returning the hug.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Zatanna stormed in, "They're here!" she exclaimed, "Wally and the grooms are finally here. We're starting in a couple of minutes."

Paula nodded and wheeled away, "I'll go get Mary so she can put the veil on."

Zatanna smiled at Artemis, "You look gorgeous, but I think something's missing," she said thoughtfully.

"Oh, really?"

"Yep. And I know just the thing to fix it! _Ekam reh elkrpas_!"

Artemis looked in the mirror and laughed out loud, Zatanna had literally made her dress sparkle. Not the gaudy kind of over the top sparkles, but just a light sheen over her wedding dress so that it shone when it caught the light.

"Thanks, Zee!" Artemis said.

Zatanna blew her a kiss, "No probs. I have to go now, see you in a bit!" she said and ran off.

As soon as Zatanna raced down the hall, Artemis let the smile that was plastered on her face slip. She started hyperventilating again.

No-one seemed to understand that she was completely freaking out. She loved Wally, she was sure of that, but that wasn't the problem. Artemis was scared; she was terrified that secretly, deep down inside, she felt that she wasn't good enough for Wally.

She was a villain, she was nothing. He deserved someone proper, someone wholly good. What could Artemis give him? She was nothing but an imposter; she didn't deserve someone like him, especially when she knew in the bottom of her heart that he could do better.

Artemis took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. No, she wouldn't torment Wally, she wouldn't tie him down to her. Artemis spotted a window, just big enough to crawl through. She opened the thing fully and looked down. It wasn't a very high jump, she was sure she could manage it in her wedding dress. Artemis thought about leaving him a note, leaving him something to remember her by, but then again, if she leaves him standing at the altar, maybe he wouldn't want to remember her.

Artemis hitched her dress up and started to put one foot through the window. She felt horrible at the thought of what Wally would feel when he realised she was gone, but it would be better in the long run. He would finally be with someone he really deserved, not someone like Artemis.

"I would take of the shoes first if you were trying to make that kind of jump."

Artemis quickly turned around, startled. Oliver was standing in the room, looking very smart in his designer suit, twirling the veil in his hands. Feeling guilty, Artemis pulled herself back in from the window and faced him sheepishly.

"I'm guessing you're having second thoughts about the wedding?" Oliver asked.

"What gave it away?" Artemis answered dryly.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Artemis was silent for a minute, making a point not to look her old mentor in the eye.

"You know, it's okay to feel nervous. I'm sure Wally wouldn't mind waiting until you're ready. Or if, you know, you don't love him anymore, telling him now would probably be for the best," Oliver said awkwardly, sitting down on the plush red sofa in the room.

Artemis sighed heavily, "No, that's… that's not it. I love Wally, I know I do, it's just that…" she trailed off.

"You think you're rushing things?"

"I think I'm not good enough for him."

Oliver stood up immediately at that, but Artemis held her arms to placate him, "Just hear me out, Ollie. I started the whole hero thing because I wanted to atone for my parent's sins, but what if it wasn't enough? What if I'm still a bad person? Every time I look in the mirror, I'm reminded of exactly how bad I am. I'm Sportsmaster's daughter. I've been trained to kill from the day I was born, I have killed before. How can I deserve someone so good, someone as whole as Wally? I'm not afraid of being brought into his life, I'm afraid of bringing him into mine." Artemis finished heavily.

Oliver looked at her for a minute, regarding her carefully. He walked closer to her and gripped both her shoulders tightly,

"Artemis Lian Crock, you listen to me and you listen carefully. From the day I met you, fighting crime in Gotham, there was one thing about you that completely struck me as odd. Unlike all the others, you have a reason to fight crime. You want to do good and that is exactly what you have done. You sided with the good guys, you've been with us for a long time, and honestly, that is all that matters. Maybe you are Sportsmasters daughters. But you're also Paula's child. You're my sort-of niece. You're a member of the Justice League. And most importantly, you are a hero. You are a goddamn hero. So don't you dare say that you're not worth it, that you don't deserve this, because honestly, I've never met anyone who deserves this more.

So go, go out on that altar tonight, go marry the man that you love and that you deserve. You're Artemis Crock, you are strong, and you are a hero. And today, you are going to become something more, you're going to share your life with someone else, but I need you to know, that this is exactly everything you deserve."

Artemis was stunned into silence for a moment, tears blurring her vision. She honestly didn't know what to say. Everything Oliver just said, it made things easier. It made that tight feeling in her chest go away, it made everything look a little brighter.

"I thought Canary was the one with the whole counseling shit," Artemis said.

"She's been teaching me. So, are you going to get married or what?" Oliver asked, holding the veil up.

"I'm going to get married!" Artemis yelled.

She hugged Oliver tightly, hoping that the hug would say everything she couldn't say out loud. Hoping that the hug would tell him thank you, and show him how much his speech meant to her. He hugged her back, so Artemis guessed that he must have gotten the drift.

They pulled away and Oliver lifted the veil up.

"Before I put the veil, I think something's missing. You have the something old, your mothers hair pin," he said, tapping the intricate pin that held her hair in place, "the dress is something new, and I'm guessing that the shimmery stuff on the dress is thanks to Zatanna's magic, so we could say that that is the something borrowed, but you still need the something blue."

"Oliver, please. It's not like anyone will take any notice," Artemis rolled her eyes.

Oliver ignored this, and instead held out the green flower tucked in his suit. He gently pushed it into Artemis's hair, "I know it's not blue, but hey, it's the closest thing I could find."

"Great."

"Now take a good look at yourself, Artemis. Mary was very particular about that once I put the veil on you I can't look at you, and you shouldn't look at yourself in the reflection."

"Was this one of her family traditions?"

"I think so," Oliver said, tucking the veil in place. He kissed Artemis on the cheek and then offered his hand, "are you ready for me to walk you down the aisle?"

Artemis grinned at him behind the veil and took his arm, squeezing gently.

* * *

_Back in the helicopter… _

"Dick, there is five minutes until my wedding! There is no way in hell that we could possibly get to the church in time, even if we are in a helicopter!" Wally yelled at Dick.

"I know that! I asked the pilot to land us on the rooftop there so we could zeta to the church," Dick hissed back.

Roy placed his hands on his temples, "Can we please get out of this metal death contraption? I feel like I'm gonna hurl."

"Not on me, you don't," Conner said firmly.

The helicopter shuddered and jerked, and after one hell of a rocky landing, they had landed on the rooftop of a building in Gotham.

"Are you sure this is a suitable place to land, Mr Grayson?" the pilot asked as the five of them got out of it.

"I'm sure Henry, thanks for the ride!" Dick said cheerfully, waving the pilot off.

The pilot looked uncertain, but soon took off again.

Dick faced the group, "Okay, there's a zeta beam just a couple of blocks from here. We can get to it, zeta to the church and be there in less than two minutes."

"Sounds like a plan, agreed?" Kaldur asked.

Roy rolled his eyes, "This isn't a mission, Kal. We just have to get to Wall-Man's stupid wedding on time. And on a completely different note, does anyone have any sunnies? This sun is blinding!" Roy used his arm to shield his eyes from the sun.

"Let's just move already!" Conner snapped.

Wally nodded quickly, so the group started moving towards the ground. They moved at an agonizingly slow place (Roy was still trying to cope with the world's biggest hangover) until finally, they reached the zeta beam.

And of course, just at the moment when Wally was going to step through the beam, an alarm went off, signalling that there was crime in Gotham.

Wally looked at the others, who all had their game faces on, "Guys!" he wailed, "my wedding starts in one minute!"

They all ignored him, getting into the mindset of a rescue mission.

"That was definitely the fire alarm. There must be a huge fire going off somewhere," Dick said.

"Everyone knows the drill. Get changed and meet at the disaster point ASAP," Kaldur ordered.

"Guys!" Wally yelled out again, but everyone had already disappeared.

Wally cursed loudly (so loudly, in fact, that a young child walking by looked scandalized) and quickly stripped himself down to the Flash uniform, and then raced to the smoking building. He quickly created a mini tornado, causing the flame to be sucked out. The he raced inside and rescued the three citizens still stuck inside the building.

He came outside to see Nightwing, Aqualad, Superboy and Red Arrow waiting for him.

"Bats is going to be pretty angry when he sees that Flash came to rescue Gotham," Nightwing told him.

"Well it was either that or let the people burn. Can we go now?"

"This is a bank, Wally. The fire was no random accident. We must go inside and find the culprits," Aqualad said.

Wally rolled his eyes and followed the entire gang inside, avoiding the eager reporters as he did it. Inside, he saw that the two fire-obsessed super-villains, Firefly and Firebug were standing surrounded by their cronies and with the heroes circling around them.

"Give it up, Firefly!" Red Arrow called out.

The Fires didn't say anything, just yelled at their cronies to attack. Nightwing yelled something unintelligible, but from the gist of it he was ordering Aqualad and Superboy to take down the Fires, while he, Flash and Red Arrow would get the others.

A huge surge of annoyance built up in Wally, and he just super-sped around the place, dodging Red Arrow's arrows and punching, kicking or tripping any person that he could find. In no time at all, he had built a steady pile of villains around him.

"Damn, Flash. At least try and save a couple for us," Red Arrow said indignantly.

"I'm missing out on my wedding for this crap. I think I'm allowed to take full dibs," Flash called back.

He looked around the room to see Superboy take out Firebug, and Aqualad get the up on Firefly. Flash raced over and hog-tied them for good measure. He then circled back to the others, "Now can we go?"

"Meet at the zeta in two," Aqualad said quietly.

Wally raced off, changing into his tux as he got there. After a stupidly slow two minutes, the others all appeared, wearing their tuxes.

Wally smiled slightly and stepped into the zeta beam.

_Recognized, Flash, B03._

He stepped out of the beam and landed right in front of the church, with Dick, Conner, Kaldur and Roy at his back. Zatanna came storming down, "the wedding was meant to start 5 minutes ago! Why the hell are you guys so late?" she yelled angrily.

"We had to stop-"

"I don't care. Just get in the church and stand ready, okay? We'll start the wedding now!" Zatanna snapped, dragging Wally along into the church.

He smiled at his mother who glared back and tapped her watch a couple of times, and at Uncle Barry, who just rolled his eyes. Wally stood at the front of the altar, and looked down on the crowd, trying to control his nerves as the music started.

Zatanna and Dick came down the aisle first, followed by M'gnn and Conner, Kaldur and Raquel, and a very uncomfortable looking Roy and Jade at the end. The girls looked lovely in their bridesmaids outfits, but Wally only had eyes for one person.

Oliver came into view first, escorting a lovely blonde in a veil and gorgeous, shimmering white dress. Wally heard a collective sigh from the audience, but he could only think of one thing at that moment. He was smiling so wide that he was pretty sure he was in danger of damaging his facial muscles, but he didn't care. Because coming down that aisle was the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

That was his blushing bride, his future wife. That was his Artemis.

* * *

STAGE THREE: GETTING MARRIED.

Artemis could hear the music; she could see the crowds craning to get a good look at her. She felt nervous and jittery, and she was extremely grateful Oliver was there leading her down the aisle, because Artemis seriously thought she was in danger of collapsing. The stupid veil was obscuring much of her vision, but soon enough, she could see the fuzzy outline of her favourite red-head in front of her.

Oliver gave her arm a gentle squeeze and kiss on the cheek, before he returned to sit down with Dinah.

Artemis felt Wally grab her arm, and she let him hold her up, stepping hard down on his toe as she did it.

"Ow!" Wally whispered, "What was that for?"

"You were five minutes late to our wedding!" Artemis whispered back.

Wally opened his mouth to say something else, but Doctor Fate cleared his throat. Wally lifted the veil off Artemis instead. Artemis could practically see his face light up when he saw hers, and she felt a smile stretch across her face. She squeezed his hand gently.

Doctor Fate rambled on for a bit, talking about how it was their fate to end up together but it was their destiny to make it work. He kept going, until finally, he said, "Do you, Wallace Rudolph West, take this woman here to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," Wally said in a throaty whisper.

"And do you, Artemis Lian Crock, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?'

"I do," Artemis said, tears running down her face.

"Then I now pronounce you husband and wife. May the Fates by ever in your favour. You may kiss the bride," Doctor Fate said, waving his hand so that something mystical and shimmery glittered in the air around them.

Wally grabbed Artemis around the waist, pulling her closer to him.

"I have been waiting to do this for a very long time," he said.

"So have I," Artemis replied, grinning.

Wally leaned down and kissed her carefully, a warm kind of kiss that left Artemis breathless and buzzing afterwards. They pulled apart and she could hear the raucous cheering of the crowd in front of them. She could hear someone break something and she grinned, knowing it was almost definitely her mother.

Artemis and Wally walked hand in hand out of the church, having another sweet kiss when they got outside. Artemis turned around to throw the bouquet. There was a lot of pushing and shoving when it came to the women, with a lot using their superpowers to try and catch it. In the end, it was Zatanna (who simply said 'Evig teuquob o tem) who finally got it.

Wally then scooped Artemis in his arms so she was completely cradled in his arms.

"So, what do you say about finally seeing the world, Mrs Wally West?" he asked quietly.

Artemis laughed, loving the way her name sounded, "I thought you would never ask."

And so, with a crowd of heroes yelling behind them, Wally grabbed his new wife, Artemis and literally sped off into the distance.

* * *

Yeah, so, I hope you like it! And no, this is definitely not the last chapter! I'll try to update as soon as I can, but otherwise, I really hoped you liked it! Any kind of feedback would be much appreciated!:)


	10. Tradition Number 10

Thank you for reading and reviewing the last chapter! **IMPORTANT** This chapter is a little different, and it's going to be going back in time. So I know that I've just finished writing the Wedding thing, and there's still going to be more after that, but these next few chapters are going to be when Artemis and Wally first start dating, and they're going to bridge the five-year gap.

Thanks, and I hope you like it!

* * *

**Rule Number 10: First dates must always be perfect, no matter what happens.**

* * *

Artemis Crock was not really the nervous type.

Seriously, she didn't really get the whole point of 'dreading' something. Things just happened, good or bad, so there really wasn't any need to get all worked up about it. Not to get all philosophical or anything, but Artemis was a firm believer of things just happening for a reason, so in the end, there was never anything to feel scared or nervous about.

Except, well, now, Artemis Crock was seriously nervous.

She gave herself another look in the mirror, smoothing out an imaginary wrinkle on her dark green top. She didn't want to look over the top dressy, but she didn't want to look like she had put no effort into picking out the outfit either. Artemis hoped that her green dress top, black jeans and boots were perfect; she had spent almost an hour ransacking her closet looking for them.

It felt weird to be freaking out about what clothes she was wearing, seeing as she paraded around in a midriff-bearing latex suit in front of him anyway. And anyway, she was never really the type of girl to put a lot of effort into what she wore anyway, mainly due to her laziness, but for this event, Zatanna and M'gnn had helped her ransack her closest to find this outfit.

Artemis took a deep breath and put her silver hoops in her ears. She glanced at the clock -7'05, late as usual. At least something's hadn't changed. Tonight was going to be the first time she had seen him since the WatchTower, which was like, two weeks ago. When he called her yesterday, asking her out on their first official date, Artemis had literally felt like she had been floating ever since.

The doorbell rung and Artemis hurried downstairs, partially out of excitement, partially because she didn't want her Mom to get to the door first and tell him any embarrassing baby stories. She sidestepped her Mom and practically wrenched the door open.

In front of her, instead of the gangly-limbed red-headed Wally she had expected, a sheepish looking Robin stood in front of her, holding a huge bunch of flowers out awkwardly.

"Um, 'sup 'Mis. You, uh, look good," he stammered nervously.

Artemis crossed her hands over her chest and started breathing heavily, "This better not be Wally's insane idea of a prank," she said harshly.

"No! It's not like that! He, uh, couldn't make it, so he asked me to fill in for him," Robin said.

"What the hell could have been more important than our first date?" Artemis yelled angrily while Robin practically shrunk away from her.

"Artemis, why are you yelling at this poor boy?" her mother said, wheeling over to the front door. She gave Robin a warm smile, "Is this your date?"

"Apparently so," Artemis snarled, grabbing Robin's arm and pulling him of the door. She dragged him half-way down her street, her Mom's "have fun!" echoing behind them.

"Alright Bird-Boy, spill," Artemis said roughly, stopping in the middle of the street.

Robin rubbed his sore arm where Artemis had pulled him, "Something seriously urgent came up so Wally couldn't be here tonight. He asked me to fill in for him and take you out because he didn't want to cancel."

"What could have possibly been more important than our _first date_?" Artemis seethed.

"Uh, he had an, um, science project due?" Robin said, slightly scared of the angry looking Artemis.

"A science project? His stupid _science project_ was more important than _me_? Oh, great, there goes my self-esteem," Artemis muttered to herself.

"Look, he's really sorry, but I have everything planned. We're going to meet up with the team at Happy Harbour and go to the carnival, okay?" Robin told her.

Artemis glared at him, but nodded curtly anyway, and stalked off towards the zeta-beam. Robin sighed in relief and was secretly happy that she didn't have any arrows with her. He ran after her, briefly thinking that he finally understood what Bruce meant when he said _hell hath no fury like a woman scorned_.

* * *

Putting it very simply, Artemis was pissed.

She had spent ages picking out this outfit, doing up her hair and even applying make-up, and what happens? Oh, that's right, the very guy she did all this for bailed on her. When she saw Wally next, she was probably going to stick an arrow in him.

Artemis didn't really mind hanging with her or anything, but right now, she was literally the seventh wheel. M'gnn and Conner were being all – M'gnn and Conner-y, while Zatanna and Robin were obviously having fun trying to beat each other at every game at the carnival. And then Raquel was busy trying to get Kaldur to loosen up and have fun. So that just left Artemis, eating her ice-cream, watching her friends in their relationships and wondering why her favourite red-head wasn't with her.

Maybe it was something she'd done; maybe this was Wally's way of saying that he didn't really want a relationship with her. They had only kissed once at the WatchTower, and maybe for him, it didn't really mean as much. Artemis had probably read too much into things, and maybe Wally didn't want a relationship with her after all.

Artemis sighed heavily, yeah, she had probably read too much into things. She probably scared him off with the whole 'being Sportsmaster's daughter' thing. Wouldn't exactly have been the first time that's happened.

Artemis was staring moodily at the dark night sky above her, when she suddenly heard a massive explosion that had the ground shaking beneath her feet. Startled, she gripped the railing she was leaning onto tighter and glanced around to see her friends.

M'gnn and Conner were barely floating above the ground (thanks to M'gnn's telekinesis) and Zatanna had obviously set a spell that protected both her and Robin from the earthquake. Artemis took a quick look around to see many people were as unsteady as she was.

The earthquake quietened down, and Artemis had just started to relax when she heard a huge screaming noise of metal being pulled apart. She looked up to see the huge Ferris wheel come apart and start to fall down. She then felt the metal railing she was holding onto break apart in her hands, and she lost her balance and started falling into the water below.

* * *

The force of hitting the water from such a height hurt like hell, and then the water was so icy cold Artemis couldn't even move her arms. As she slowly sunk to the bottom, she could really only think, _why was it always water?_

Suddenly, the water started to lift her upwards, and she was dumped onto the beach by a huge wave. Coughing out water, Artemis looked up to see Kaldur, already in his Aqualad costume, helping all the citizens who were already in the water.

Artemis ran up to the deck, where the carnival was in disarray. She shucked off her ruined top and appeared in her costume that she was wearing underneath. She mentally cursed herself for forgetting her bow, so she just had to settle for her mini crossbow instead.

Artemis could see M'gnn and Conner try to keep the Ferris wheel from falling, but the strain looked like too much for them. Raquel was helping the other citizens, and Robin and Zatanna looked like they were battling someone. She ran up to them, and hid behind the ice-cream truck, where they were standing.

"What's going on?" she yelled.

"Dr Polaris. He's the one who caused the earthquake and the Ferris wheel to collapse!" Robin yelled back at her.

"Great. I'm going to put an arrow in him now!" Artemis yelled back.

She heard Zatanna scream at her, but Artemis had already vaulted herself in front of Dr Polaris. She took her crossbow and aimed straight for his arm. The arrow zinged through the air, and just when it was about to hit him Polaris put up his hand.

And the arrow just stopped in mid-air.

"Aw, shit," Artemis muttered.

The Dr turned to look at her, an evil smile creeping across his face, "You think you're metal arrow can defeat me?" he asked, in a loud booming voice, "foolish girl! I am the Master of Magnetism!" With a flick of his wrist he sent her arrow hurtling towards her.

Artemis ducked out of the way, but she looked up only to see a huge, metal car zoom straight through to her.

"Simerta dnoura dliehs!" Zatanna yelled, and a green barrier came up between Artemis and the car.

Artemis sent a grateful nod to Zatanna and scurried to where she and Robin where hiding.

"Okay, now what do we do?" she asked.

Robin looked around, scanning the area for Kaldur, "Zatanna, you go and help M'gnn and Conner keep up the Ferris wheel. Artemis and I will distract Polaris."

"How? He can control metal!"

"I can take care of that," Zatanna said, "Citsalp ot latem!"

The arrows Artemis was carrying became plastic, as did Robin's birdarangs. Zatanna hugged Robin and then went off to help the others.

"Um, Robin? I hate to break it to you, but I don't think we're going to be able to stop him," Artemis said.

"I know. On the count of three. One, two, go!" Robin ran out out to face Polaris, and Artemis followed his example.

She fired off arrows at Dr Polaris, and then ducked and dodged all of the metal he kept hurtling towards them.

"We can't keep this up for much longer!" Artemis yelled.

"Don't have to!" Robin replied, pointing up at the sky.

There was a green glow, and both the Green Lantern's appeared from the sky. Hal Jordan went straight for Polaris, while Guy Gardener righted the Ferris wheel in an instant. The battled was short; both Green Lanterns made quick work of Dr Polaris. Kaldur, Raquel and Zatanna said all the civilians were fine, while Conner carried an exhausted M'gnn in his arms.

Soon, the Lanterns landed in front of them.

"Good work, team. We'll take it from here. But we should send you to the Cave's infirmary, just in case, okay?" Hal said.

The team didn't have much choice but to agree, so GL created a huge car and took them to the mountain.

* * *

After insisting to a paranoid Green Arrow, that _yes_, she was fine, and _no_, she didn't need any further medical assistance, Artemis was finally free to go home. She waved the other's goodbye, and was about to leave the Cave when she heard Flash's voice.

"- he's totally fine, right?"

"Yes, Barry. Stop worrying. We're only keeping him here overnight because we just want to check up on him."

"But he will be able to go home tomorrow?"

"I am certain, that because of his healing factor, he will make a full recovery. No go home and get some rest!"

Artemis quickly hid in the shadows as Flash came speeding past, and then she slipped through the medical doors. She walked down the narrow passage, until she finally came to the room right at the end. Artemis opened the door slowly and almost choked.

"Wally?!" she asked.

Wally, who was sitting up on the hospital bed in a gown, munching on various snacks and flipping through the T.V. channels, nearly shrieked as he saw Artemis standing at the door.

"Artemis? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing! Robin said you were at home, doing a science poject!"

Wally groaned, "I told him to come up with a good excuse!"

"Wally," Artemis said sternly, "What. Happened."

"I was helping Flash on patrol and things got a bit rough. I hit my head pretty bad and I think I broke a couple of ribs," Wally sighed.

"And you couldn't have just, you know, told me!?"

"I didn't want you to worry. This was meant to be our first date, our special night. I didn't want to ruin it."

Artemis laughed lightly and smacked him on the head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"I was worried that you didn't want a relationship anymore, Kid Idiot. You should have just told me!"

Wally grabbed her by the arms and pulled her down so they were eye to eye, "Artemis, babe, going out with you has been my dream since I first met you. Trust me, I want this relationship."

He pulled her closer into a soft kiss. They broke apart slowly, a slow smile forming on Artemis's lips. Suddenly, she clambered on top of the of the hospital bed, being careful not to jostle Wally around too much. She snuggled down beside Wally and snagged a chip from his plate.

"So, what are we watching?"


	11. Tradition Number 11

Sorry for taking ages to update! Thank you for being so patient. And thank you for all you're feedback! So this chapter just continues on from after the wedding, so when Artemis and Wally are older. Please review!

* * *

**Tradition Number 11: When pregnant, one must wear Grandma Wests' lucky charm necklace.**

* * *

It really shouldn't have come up as such a surprise.

Honestly, Artemis should have been able to see the signs. For like, three mornings in a row, she had been feeling pretty nauseas, but she had just put it down to food poisoning. And then she had received horrible headaches and stomach cramping. She has just put it down to being sick.

It seriously should not have taken a trip to the League's infirmary to realise it.

Artemis was with Nightwing, on a scouting mission on Bludhaven. It was a pretty simple job, and taking down the henchmen should have been relatively easy. In fact, at the start, it was super easy. The goons were falling like sacks and Artemis had barely broken a sweat. Until she got this random bout of dizziness. The world seemed to complete swing around her, and she barely heard Nightwing calling out her name before she blacked out.

When she woke up, Artemis found herself in the Justice League's infirmary in the Watch Tower (she was a little disappointed that she could recognize the infirmary almost immediately. Maybe she should stop getting knocked out.) A kind faced nursed entered with a clipboard.

"Artemis, good to see you're up. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, doc. Can I go now?" Artemis whined.

She hated hospitals, but she would hate it even more if Wally found out that she was here. He would probably fuss around her for days. Especially since they were married now. He seemed to be even more scared about her than usual. Artemis couldn't really blame him, though. She felt the same way about him.

"In a minute. I just have something to tell you. I'm afraid to say that you won't be able to go on League missions anymore."

"What!?" Artemis yelled, jumping up.

What the hell did she do to herself? There was no way she could have taken such a bad hit. And all her bones seemed fine. Nothing seemed broken. She really wasn't injured at all.

The nurse, the stupid, idiotic nurse laughed, and Artemis was seriously about to punch her in the face, "Artemis. Relax. It's not because you're injured. It's just that, well… congratulations, you're pregnant!"

There was an awkward silence as Artemis tried to process that.

She squinted at the nurse, her hands fluttering towards her stomach.

"I'm… pregnant?" Artemis echoed, not quite believing it.

The nurse smiled again, "Yep. And don't worry, the baby is just fine. You're only about three weeks pregnant, so there's nothing to worry about."

Artemis didn't move, her mind was still trying to catch up on what the doctor said.

After another awkward pause, the nurse spoke again, "I'll just leave you to get… adjusted. You're welcome to leave at any time. I suppose you're going to want to tell the father!"

Artemis nodded, and after a hasty pat on the back, the nurse left.

Cautiously, Artemis got up, her hands still resting on her belly. She looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't look any different. Though she guessed being pregnant would explain the nausea and headaches. And she was pretty sure she was meant to have her period this week.

Holy shit… she was pregnant.

Artemis walked out of the infirmary, and Dick got up to greet her.

"How are you? The nurse didn't say much, but are you okay now?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm pregnant," Artemis said, still in a daze. The words felt completely foreign in her mouth.

There was a slight choking sound as Dick tried to comprehend that, "Wait, what? Oh, God Artemis, congratulations!"

Dick wrapped her in a big bear hug, and then quickly backed away as if he was afraid he would break her.

"Come on," he said, grabbing her hand, "we have to tell the others! Zee's going to be so excited!"

Artemis nodded dully, not bothering to speak. She let Dick pull her along, and smiled slightly at the thought of how Wally would react.

* * *

Okay, right now, Wally was seriously pissed off.

He had come back from a two day trip into another planet, and all he wanted to do was go home, see Artemis and then just go to sleep.

But no, instead, he had to do stupid monitor duty. And then Dick would keep calling and telling him stupid baby jokes; that were seriously not funny. Like, who cared why the baby crossed the road? Babies can't even walk!

When he was finally, finally done with monitor duty, he had to pass practically the whole League, all of whom gave Wally a pat on the back and a 'congratulations.' They wouldn't tell Wally why, instead, they just smirked at him. So naturally, Wally was feeling a little paranoid.

Wally had just come close to the zeta tube when Green Arrow appeared out of nowhere and dragged him to the corner. He glared at Wally so fiercely that Wally was actually considering calling for back-up.

"You're a stupid idiot, and I swear to God West, you should have just kept it in your pants," Arrow growled at him.

"Um… What?" Wally asked, seriously creeped out now.

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, because Arrow absolutely lost his shit, "Ever heard of protection, idiot? All you had to do was just wear a goddamn condom! And how dare you defile my niece? I don't care if you're married, you should not be doing those kinds of things to her!"

Wally had absolutely no idea about what was going on, so he just ran past Arrow and went to the zeta beam. He got a message from Artemis saying that she was at his parent's house, so he just zipped over there.

Wally rushed inside his house, only to find Barry, Rudolph, and… Sportsmaster? In his kitchen? Yeah, that was weird. He gave them a quizzical glance, but only received a death glare from Sportsmaster. Wally had a feeling that if Sportsmaster still had his weapons on him, Wally would probably have been dead meat.

"They're in the lounge," Barry told him, giving Sportsmaster a fierce look.

Wally walked to the lounge, and he saw his mom, Aunt Iris, Paula and Jade crowded around Artemis. They were all chattering rather excitedly, while Artemis looked kind of bemused. She was wearing this silver necklace with a blue pendant hanging off it that looked supremely familiar.

"Artemis, babe, what's going on? Why are you wearing Grandma Wests' lucky charm necklace? Don't you only wear that if you're-" Wally broke off, realisation starting to dawn on him.

Artemis beamed at him, giving him a radiant smile, "Wally, I'm pregnant!"

And that was the point where Wally fainted.

* * *

So, I hope you liked this chapter! I just have a question to ask I'm planning to write another fun story, but I just want to know what pairing is more popular - Zatanna/Dick or Artemis/Dick. If you guys could tell me, that would be great! Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	12. Tradition Number 12

Okay, so this is the second to last chapter, and I hope you like it. Thank you for all the feedback and reviews (100+ yay!) and I've decided I'm going to write a Zatanna/Dick story, just because I haven't actually written a story with that pairing, but thank you anyway for giving me your thoughts!

So I hope you like chapter!

* * *

**Tradition Number 12: When pregnant, the husband must obey the wife's every whims.**

* * *

Wally thought that he was though the hard part in his life. Seriously, he had seen the love of his life die (twice!) come back from the dead himself, fought hardened criminals, travelled to alien planets, travelled in time, and much, much more.

He had thought that _that_ was the hard part.

Obviously, he was completely unprepared for having to look after his pregnant wife.

Artemis was… temperamental at the best of times. Usually at 'that time of the month,' Wally would do his best to steer clear of his wife. So when it came to her being pregnant, Artemis was literally off the wall. She would be laughing one moment, and then bawling her eyes out the next. Her food cravings were worse than his, and she nearly ate as much as he did. It scared Wally, and weirdly enough, it also made him love her even more.

Artemis was now around nine months pregnant, and Wally had once tactlessly told her that she was huge (which, by the way, resulted in a heated argument and Artemis throwing a vase at him.) She seemed to lie down on the couch more often, and Wally was usually there to massage her feet or to get her books and food.

Wally was trying his best to be the best husband ever, but between juggling work and superhero work, it was a little hard for him to handle someone like his Spitfire, so usually, he called in reinforcements. And today, he decided it was newlyweds Dick and Zatanna to have a turn.

The doorbell rung, signalling that his back up was here, and Wally sped to the door and practically pulled them inside.

"Hi to you to," Zatanna said, rolling her eyes.

Wally yelled something too fast for anyone to hear, and sped off to the grocery store. Artemis had wanted pickles and chocolate ice cream, so Wally had to get it.

When he returned, he dumped the contents next to Artemis, who beamed at him. He beamed right back, and then sat on the floor near her feet. He had to admit, ever since Artemis was pregnant, he could totally tell why people said women get a glowing look when they were pregnant. Artemis looked particularly radiant these days.

"Zee and Dick were just telling me about their honeymoon," Artemis said, with a slight frown on her face, "and let me tell you, they gave me waay to many details."

Wally was so tired, he could only mumble out a feeble, "Dog," to the cackling acrobat.

"Enough about us, though. When's the baby due?" Zatanna asked excitedly.

"Any day now," Artemis replied, patting her stomach affectionately. She then proceeded to dip a pickle in her ice cream, which even Wally found gross, "but that reminds me, there's something we've been meaning to ask you. Wally?" She nudged him with her toe.

Wally, who was nearly falling asleep at her feet, jerked awake, "What?" he asked groggily.

"Remember the thing we wanted to ask them?" Artemis said pointedly.

It took a second for Wally's mind to catch up (in his defence, he had been getting up at all hours of the night to get things for Artemis.)

"Oh, yeah," he said, finally remembering. He looked at the faces of his two best friends, "there was something we wanted to ask. Would you guys be godparents to our kid?"

There was sudden reaction of noise, with Zatanna jumping up and squealing, hugging Artemis tight. Dick looked extremely stunned, and extremely pleased.

"Seriously, you want us to be god parents?" he asked.

"What child wouldn't want a magician and a crime fighter for god parents?" Artemis asked teasingly, "of course we want you. We wouldn't have asked-" she broke off, a sudden flash of pain flitting across her face.

Wally jumped into action, "Was that a contraction? Or was that just the baby kicking? Do we go to the hospital now? Do we need to get an ambulance? Do you need a Panadol? Should we call the League?"

Artemis swatted him away, "No, we do not need the League. It was a contraction, Wall-Man. I think I'm going to have a baby now. Can you get the car please?"

"Oh my God! You're going to have a baby! You're going to have a baby! Holy shit, Dick! She's going to have a baby!" Zatanna squealed, jumping up and down and grabbing Dick's arm.

Dick rolled his eyes and mumbled something, probably along the lines of '_funnily enough, I managed to figure that out'_, but Wally didn't hear it because he raced off, getting the car and bringing it to the front.

Zatanna and Dick helped Artemis inside the car.

"Call my parents, and Artemis's family, and tell them we're at Keystone hospital, okay?" he yelled, and then squealed of out of the driveway.

He dove as fast as he legally could, his breath coming out shorter each time. He felt a warm pressure on his arm, "Wally, relax. Deep breaths, okay? I'm going to be fine," Artemis reassured him in a calm, loving voice.

Wally nodded, and then suddenly swerved the car to avoid hitting the truck in front of him.

"Wally! Could you please try not to get us killed? I have to deliver our baby!" Artemis yelled at him, hitting his arm.

Ah, there was his nagging, irritable Spitfire.

Wally managed to get to the emergency lane at Keystone hospital without causing any major traffic dilemmas, and he got out of the car and starting jumping up and down, yelling at the standby nurses about his pregnant wife.

The nurses rolled their eyes at him, and they got Artemis in a wheelchair and took her in. Wally hovered nervously behind.

"Are you the father?" the nurse asked him.

"What?"

"Of her children. Are you the father of her children?" the nurse asked more patiently.

"I hope so," Wally said jokingly, trying to ease the tension.

Instead, he got a death glare from Artemis (who was now lying on the hospital bed) and a creeped-out look from the nurse.

"Okay, I need you to fill out these forms. Would you be staying for the delivery?" the nurse asked.

Wally was very tempted to say no, because come on, he had been to the Lamaze classes, and he knew that being there wouldn't be good, but after catching another glare from Artemis, Wally decided that it would be best to say yes.

"The doctor will be in shortly," the nurse informed them, and walked out.

Wally went over to Artemis, smiling at her and smoothing her hair down.

"It's going to be alright babe," he said.

"I know that!" Artemis snapped, her face contorting as another contraction happened.

Wally gulped, and just went back to smoothing her hair down. He wished that his mom or Iris were there; someone who actually could help Artemis.

"Wally?" Artemis asked, her voice sounding pained.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Promise me you won't faint again," Artemis said.

Wally winced at the memory, but nodded, placing a light kiss on Artemis's head, "I promise I will be here with you till the very end."

"Artemis West; is it?" the doctor asked, making his way inside the room.

Wally nodded, and the doctor gestured for the nurses to come in. The began setting up immediately, and the doctor took his place.

"Ah, I think we're about ready. Can you push for me, Artemis?" the doctor asked.

Artemis nodded, and squeezed Wally's hand for good measure. She began screaming and twisting in the sheets, her hand cutting of all the circulation in Wally's. Wally tried his best to soothe her and be encouraging, but honestly, he wanted to do whatever he could to stop the pain.

After what seemed like forever, and loud cry echoed from the room; and Wally looked to see the doctor holding up a new born baby. _His_ new born baby.

"It's a boy," the doctor said happily, and passed it to the nurse so she could clean him.

Wally gave Artemis a huge smile, which she returned tiredly. She looked completely worn out and exhausted. Her face than contorted in pain again.

"Artemis!" Wally cried, "Doc! What's wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong, it's just the second baby coming out," the doctor replied warmly.

"There's another baby? We're having twins?" Wally yelled out, half in happiness and half in terror.

"I'm going to have to go through all that pain again? Damn you, West! This is your entire fault!" Artemis cried out, squeezing Wally's hand again as she pushed.

* * *

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Artemis was resting in her bed, a happy, worn out look on her face, with their baby girl in her arms. Wally was holding their boy, rocking him gently as he kissed Artemis.

"Babe, I know that every couple says this, but can I just say, we made some fantastic looking kids," Wally told her.

Artemis laughed lightly, "Oh, I know. No one could be prettier than our little Iris, or as handsome as our Jai."

"I wonder if they're going to have my speed; that would be so cool!"

"I hope not. Can you imagine our food bill?"

"It's not like we pay for it anyway."

There was gentle tapping on the door, and Paula, Mary and Iris walked in, with Barry and Bart at their heels.

"Oh, twins? They're so beautiful!" Paula gushed, holding her hands out eagerly as Wally gave Jai to her, and Artemis gave Iris to Mary.

"Must be a speedster thing," Barry said, clapping Wally on the back, "our kids are with the Garricks."

"So what are their names?" Bart asked, peering curiously at Iris.

"The boy's Jai, and the girl is Iris."

"Really? You called her Iris? Oh, Wally, thank you!" Iris gushed, beaming at both Artemis and Wally.

Barry frowned, "Hey, how come I don't get a kid named after me?"

"You've got Bart," Wally said, rolling his eyes as Iris hit Barry on the arm.

"Did you even get a chance to choose the name, Artemis?" Rudolph asked, picking up Jai from his wife and rocking him gently.

Artemis held out her hand, and rather reluctantly, Iris gave Iris back to her.

"Actually, I picked them both out. Wally wanted to call them Velocity and Speed," Artemis said.

The whole family groaned, while Wally said rather defensively, "Hey, they were totally cool and unique names!"

* * *

I'm going to say right now, that writing the pregnancy part was really weird and awkward for me, because I have no idea as to what actually happens, and most of that was based on movies about pregnancy. Again, I'm sorry for the sucky ending but I really couldn't think of a better way to end the chapter! So the last chapter should be uploaded shortly, but thank you for reading and please review!


	13. Tradition Number 13

Okay, so this is the last chapter I'm doing for West Family Traditions! I know there were a heap of other traditions I could have included, but I thought that this was the most appropriate way to end this work. I really hope you enjoy it. Thanks for all the support from everyone as I was writing this, and thank you to all who have read it. You guys inspire me to write! :)

* * *

**Number 13: As a new family, you must educate your children on the West Family Traditions, and maybe, you can also make some new Family Traditions too.**

* * *

For once in her life, Artemis could say that she was content.

Somehow, for some unknown reason, she finally had everything she had ever wanted in her life.

It wasn't like her life was perfect or anything, she was a retired hero, and yeah, she wasn't going to lie, she sometimes wanted to be in on the action again. And it wasn't like she didn't have bad days anymore; she was still trying to make her life work. Things still went wrong for her, but nowadays, Artemis felt that she might have finally accomplished something.

She had her family, her beautiful 9-year old children, Iris and Jai. And it wasn't like they didn't freak her out or anything. Artemis spent her first year with them absolutely terrified she would be a horrible parent to them. Add to the fact that they had inherited Wally's speed; she probably had the worst time ever as a new parent. Talk about double trouble.

And the whole speed factor thing did come with its setbacks. Artemis could still remember the scary time when she thought that she would lose Jai forever because of his connection to the speed force. Thankfully, Barry and Wally managed to cure him. It got rid of Jai's speed, but he had other things to compensate (he totally inherited Artemis's combat skills.)

Artemis thought in family life, she couldn't do much better. She got a lovely red-headed daughter who had gotten her eyes and Wally's features, as well as a handsome blonde son who managed to prove himself as a marksmen and combat master, as well as inherit Wally's mouth (hey, one of her kids was bound to get it.)

As of now, Artemis was standing in front of the newly built Hall of Justice with her son and daughter, fully decked out in their respective uniforms (Iris had taken the mantle of Impulse, while Jai was still trying to decide on a name.) Artemis wouldn't allow them to fight crime yet (they were 9, for crying out loud!) but she couldn't stop them from wanting to train.

"Mo-om, can we go in now?" Jai complained.

"We have to wait for your father. We're doing this as a family, remember?" Artemis told him.

"But I wanna see Rachel! She said she was going to be here!" Iris whined.

"Iris! No civilian names while we're in costume, okay?" Artemis scolded.

Rachel was Dick's daughter, and Artemis could only imagine what the new Batman would say if he heard Iris carelessly reveal their secret identity.

There was a whooshing sound, and finally, Artemis's ever-late husband was there, in Flash costume.

"Alright kiddies, who's excited to go inside the Hall of Justice?" Wally called out, enveloping his kids in a huge bear hug.

Artemis supressed a smile at her husband's antics. She had always known that he would be great with kids.

"Daddy! Why are you always late?" Iris asked sternly (well, as sternly as an adorable nine-year-old could.)

"It's a Flash Tradition, Irey. And remember what I told you about traditions?" Wally asked his kids.

They groaned as repeated in unison, "Traditions are the holy customs that hold a family together and at all times, must be followed and kept alive."

Artemis punched Wally on the shoulder, "I still can't believe you made our kids memorize that."

"Traditions mean the world, babe. Now, are we all ready to face the Justice League?" Wally called out excitedly.

The kids cheered and raced each other (Iris would have obviously won if Jai didn't trip her (that's her boy)) to the inside if the Hall. It was late, and there were no civilians around.

Upon entering the Hall, Artemis and her family were greeted by everyone from the younger, new Team to the older League. Retired heroes and active ones together, all at once. It was probably the best reunion Artemis had ever been to.

She made a beeline for Dick and Zatanna, and obviously, Iris started talking to their daughter, Rachel.

"I'm surprised you guys actually made it," Zatanna said, laughing.

"Are we the last here?" Artemis asked.

"Naturally. Clark was waiting for you so he could do his boring induction speech for the new recruits," Dick answered.

Almost as soon as he said it, Clark walked over to the podium and began to address the crowd.

"Superheroes, heroes, friends, we are here today…"

Artemis did her usual thing of completely zoning out as Clark rambled on (she wasn't exactly known for her attention to detail.) Instead, she just took a few minutes to reflect on how her life had turned out.

She had wonderful kids, a lovable husband, a steady job. Everything she wanted in life, but thought she didn't deserve, thought she'd never get. Her life was far from perfect of course, the world was still in danger, and she still worried about the lives of her friends and family. Things still went wrong for her, but somehow, she knew that she would be able to get through it.

Who would have thought that falling down the rabbit hole when she was fifteen was probably the best decision she had ever made?

Artemis looked around her; most of the people still had their attention on Clark. She looked at her family, saw the glazed look on the eyes of her children and Wally, so she bent down and gathered them close together.

"Alright, remember how we were discussing traditions earlier on? Well, I have a new tradition that were going to be following?" Artemis told them.

"A new tradition?" Jai asked warily.

"Uh-huh. It's called Crock-West Tradition Number 1: When at a boring League conference, the Crock-West family must make enough of a distraction so they can slip out unnoticed."

Her kids looked at her, wide-eyed, while Wally laughed quietly gave her a quick kiss, "And this kids, is why I married your mother."

Artemis winked back at him, and then quickly gave her family a detailed plan of what to do.

"Executing plan in three… two… one…"

* * *

So that was it! I know this chapter didn't have much humour, but I thought it would be he best way to end it. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it, because I definitely enjoyed writing it. If you like what you've read here and want to read more, check out my other series, Maid Of Wayne Manor (yes, I totally just plugged another one of my fics on this one. I'm sorry.)

Anyway, thank you!


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